


High School (subject to change, I suck at this)

by eggshits



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Bullying, Developing Relationship, F/M, First Kiss, Heartbreak, M/M, Multi, Underage Drinking, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-08
Updated: 2014-09-13
Packaged: 2018-01-14 17:33:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 36,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1275031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggshits/pseuds/eggshits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John is a sophomore from Washington who has just recently moved to Houston, Texas and on his first day there, he gets beat up by a group of people and he notices a blonde stranger who was standing aside. Before he knows it, he's thinking about him and can't really stop.<br/>Dave is the mysterious cool kid at school, so cool that rumors surround him about his personal life. John, just by associating with him, gets sucked into his problems and Dave needs to find a way to help John. And from the day that he saw him, he's been formulating a crush on the blue-eyed boy that he can't deny. </p><p>Jake and Dirk have been broken up for a few months now and despite either of their refusals, they both regret how it went down. They try time and time again to heal their relationship, but in reality it's just going downhill for the both of them. When things seem like they're going to be resolved, a problem arises.</p><p>---H I A T U S---<br/>I WILL BE RETURNING TO THIS I PROMISE BUT IM HAVING A HARD TIME WITH EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW AND MY IDEAS ARE NOT WORKING WITH ME PLS FORGIVE</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

==>Be the new kid.

First they shoved you to the ground forcefully, you landed on the ground with a loud thump and tried to scramble up, but of course, when you tried to, your attackers only managed to push you back down again. You grunted as you fell back down, but this time on your back, leaving you exposed. Second came the punches, you felt every one of them. As mean as they were, they avoided punching your face and focused mainly on your chest. Punch after punch was thrown and you cried out as one of them kneed you in your.... nether regions, you then immediately shut your mouth, trying to make no noises. Third came the kicking, you felt all the jabs at your back, stomach, and legs. By now you were curled up into a ball on the floor trying to hold back tears, crying would only bring pleasure to your attackers. You held onto your last bit of pride as they continued to aggress you, and sadly, something in the back of your mind knew that there would be many more of these beatings to come. Your name is John Egbert and your first day of sophomore year was awful. 

You were born in Washington and loved the cold. You could probably play in the snow all day if you wanted. You also have rectangular glasses, bright blue eyes, a small overbite, jet black hair that never cooperated in the mornings, and a scrawny build. You have a laugh that is way too contagious to be healthy, and a smile that could brighten up someone's day in less than a second. You loved your life in Washington, you had a small group of friends, a nice school full of great teachers, and everything was going perfectly fine. That is, until your dad got a chance at a job in Houston that paid way more than the one at home, so obviously, you moved. You were kind of scared to move here at first and now you know why, you could already feel your homesickness setting in and everyone seemed to call you a "fag" or a "homo" as if those words were supposed to be hurtful or something. You were already used to this type of treatment. Back in Washington, people weren't so nice either, but at least you had friends that help you deal with it and would be right there beside you when you talked about it.

Being the new kid in the new school year wasn't the best situation you had ever been in. You could barely remember the faces of the guys that had beat you up and some of the bystanders that had watched. One of them, however, you could still remember clearly, he had a defined jawline and piercing brown eyes, you were pretty sure his name was Jack, but you weren't really sure. He had a scar that went over one of his eye lids and had an eye patch on another, something you didn't really see often. You also remember some of the bystanders. But only one of them had really stood out to you, he had platinum blonde hair, sunglasses, bright red headphones, and was wearing a red-sleeved baseball tee. His face showed almost no emotion throughout the whole event. Not disgusted or intrigued or surprised or anything, just emotionless. Just observing. You felt embarrassed as he and many others watched you, you assumed he was a popular kid, he had the whole look. The shades, the build, everything. You looked at him more than once throughout the whole beating, trying to get a better look at him. 

After the beating, you limped while walking home, trying to avoid the pain in your right leg. You kept on thinking about the blonde bystander, the way his mouth was practically a straight line, his black skinny jeans. You remember how his eyes were completely concealed, enveloped in black shades. Before you knew it, you were at the door of your house, you unlocked the door and walked inside. You were welcomed by the strong scent of vanilla and a little bit of mint. Your house always smelled like this, you didn't know if it was the candles or the air freshener, but the scent had always stayed the same. You made your way through the house and went to the kitchen, you looked over on the table and there was a note lying on it.

"How was your first day? I'm proud of you son. -Dad"

You chuckled a little, your dad, because your mom had died when you were ten, had to work extra hard to support you, whenever he was going to be home late he left little inspirational notes around the house to make sure you were always feeling better. It worked miraculously when you were younger, making you feel less alone, but now whenever you look at them, you laugh a little considering you've long since outgrown that. 

Before you started on your homework and projects, you put down your backpack and walked into the bathroom. You took off your shirt, revealing all the purplish, pink bruises on your chest. You winced a little as you pressed on them lightly. They were all over your torso and you had some cuts from when you were shoved to the concrete ground. You had scrapes on your knees and elbows. After a little bit of investigating and staring you got out a first aid kit and start patching yourself up. Bandaging all the cuts and scrapes, and got some ice to put against your bruises. 

Afterwards, you went up to your room and sat at your desk, you started on your homework and continued until around five in the afternoon. You always tried your hardest in school, no matter the circumstances. Since your father was the only one to take care of you, you made sure to always get straight A's, to make sure all his parenting was worth it. After you were done with everything and you had checked your answers thoroughly, you went onto your computer. There were already a few messages on your pesterchum.

"GG: John! How's Houston?? :DD tell me when you get back!"  
"GG: Joooohn, I'm waiting for your reply! >:c"  


"TT: John, Jade has informed me that you are not responded to her messages. I understand you have just moved in, but both of us are curious as to how you are feeling in your new home"  


"GG: Hey! I know you're already out of school right now! How was your first day at school? :D"

You chuckled to yourself, smiling at the fact that people still cared about your well being. Even if they were your internet friends you met when you were thirteen. You told them about your day.

"EG: Well, it's hot as hell here, but I guess other than that im ok with it. :B"  
"TT: Did you make any new friends?"  
"EG: no, not really. but im ok! this school's pretty cool i guess"  
"TT: John, I understand that I can't see you right now, but what's wrong, I can sense your anxiety through the computer, your normal replies range between a line or two.

You supposed that you could tell Rose what happened, you could trust her.

"EG: nothing! really!" 

You lied. 

"TT: Ok, John. You realize I don't believe you, but I shall not ponder the topic anymore than is needed. Hopefully, you're doing well, John."  
"EG: I am! thank you rose. ok, ill talk to you later :B"  
"TT: Goodbye, John."  


You ended the chat.

Last year, you really liked Rose and talked to her nearly all the time, after a few months of getting to know her, you tried to muster up the courage to tell her how you felt. You had practiced in front of the mirror and tried to continuously find any hint in her responses that she might have liked you back. After thinking that you had pretty good chances of her reciprocating your feelings, you initiated a video chat, and to make sure she knew you were serious, you had put on a black tuxedo with a bowtie and had a bouquet of flowers in your hands. Your hair had been combed and you had made sure that it would stay in place. When you had told her, your voice cracked a little but managed to stay mostly under control. Her face was completely surprised and her eyes had widened. After a few seconds, she ended the video chat without saying anything to you. She had then started up a regular chat and told you that although you were absolutely adorable, she wasn't interested, also that she would have preferred to have the both of you stay friends. She had then told you that she was already seeing another person, specifically, a girl. After hearing her response, you were completely heartbroken, you had liked Rose a lot more than you thought you did. But after a few months of sadness and regret, you got over it, you moved on, and your friendship with Rose went back to the way it was! Kind of. But since then, you've never really taken a liking to anyone else.  


You started up another conversation with Jade after you had finished talking with Rose.  


"EG: haha, i saw your messages jade. i see you are really worried about me huh?"  
"GG: Puh-lease, John. But seriously, how was school?? :D"  
"EG: it was fine"  
"GG: Did you make any new friends?"  
"EG: No, not really. But that doesn't matter I think I'm gonna get used to the school sooner or later"  
"GG: ...hm, ok. Is everything ok?"  
"EG: yeah! definitely!"  
"GG: Ok, john, I gotta run for now, grandpa needs help with cooking, but I'll talk to you later and you can tell me what's wrong!"  


You could tell that Jade knew something was up, but you brushed it off. Jade had been your friend just as long as Rose had. She was always there for you, and could always tell whenever you were feeling a little down. But, unlike Rose, she didn't back off, she would "pester" (you see what I did there?) you until she got the information she needed, but you didn't really care. You would always tell her what was up eventually, but this time, you didn't really feel like telling anyone what had happened, your chest still hurt like hell and you couldn't move without feeling sore.

You got off the computer and sat down on your bed to think over what happened that day. After a while, your mind trailed back to a certain bystander. If you were to be painfully honest, you would say that he didn't look that bad, you mean, he wasn't NOT attractive... If that made sense. Well, you just thought he was pretty hot, that's all. Wait, no! No you didn't! You immediately shook your head and got red in the face. You weren't a homosexual! Not one bit! You fidgeted with your fingers, thinking that it would've been weird to like a guy, right?

==>Be that one bystander. 

Today was just another day in the hell you called home. You lived in Houston, Texas with your brother Dirk, and it was practically every other day that he forgot about you, working on his robotics day and night. You could understand why he was so occupied all the time, considering he's had to raise you from age 18 when your parents had both died in a car accident. You were thirteen at the time and that was the only moment in your life that you had ever cried. Ever. Your brother has trained you and taught you how to never show emotion, and to be interested in some things solely for ironic purposes.

Meanwhile you're blabbering on about your life, there's a beating taking place right in front of your eyes. This was normal of the douches at school, whenever a new kid would transfer here, it's traditional that the jocks gather around at the end of school and punch and kick the new kid until he's breaking down. Of course this was normal, and none of the teachers knew about it, so obviously, everyone watched. Every time this happened, you would never care, you just walked straight to the bike rack and went home. But today was different. There was something about this new kid that kept you watching. You winced several times whenever you heard him whimper but your poker face resumed immediately afterwards. To be honest, you felt kinda bad for this guy. Although he was pretty scrawny, he could handle quite a few blows from these guys, and that was saying something. You were glad that you had shades, or else this guy would know that you were thoroughly investigating him. It was normal of you to observe things, it was just a thing you did. You memorized details, patterns, and could identify the smallest of movements. 

After looking at the kid for a little while, you recognized a few things. First of all, his eyes. His eyes were practically the whole sky but brighter. It seemed as if his eyes, although full of pain and embarrassment at the moment, could comfort anyone. And next, his hair. This kid's hair was jet black and stuck up in exactly four different directions, not that it was messy or anything, it just seemed as if he had just gotten out of bed. Kind of cute to be honest. After a little staring, which was concealed by your shades, you were shook back to reality. The jocks had already left and the new kid was already limping away towards the parking lot. Your eyes softened and as you took one last look at him and started walking towards the bike rack. 

Before you got on your bike and headed home, you put on your red headphones and listened to music loud enough to burst someone's eardrums. But you didn't care. You liked your music loud. You also liked it when your songs had a very original beat, it was fun to tap along with your fingers on the table, or your shoes on the floor. Of course you never did those things in public, that would just bring shame to the Strider name. Dave Strider tapping along to a song? Unheard of. By the time you got to entrance of the apartment, your songs had abruptly ended, you reminded yourself that you needed to make some more rhymes and mix some new beats when you had the time.

You started walking up the 19 flights of stairs after getting past the main entrance of the apartment. From a young age, you had to walk up these stairs, after a little bit of getting used to, you climbed these stairs all the time. Now, they were barely a challenge. When you reached the door, you unlocked and opened it, revealing the inside of you and your brother's apartment. There were wires trailing everywhere, you were surprised your electric bill wasn't miles long, and there was a couch to the left of you, and beside that, was the door that led to your brother's room. You could hear him talking on the phone through the door, he was probably negotiating some kind of order, selling his robotic creations and whatnot. You honestly didn't really care about what he was doing, as long as he fed you, you respected his space. You continued to walk into the two bedroom apartment, and reached your room.

Let's just say, your room isn't the tidiest place on Earth. This whole apartment was a mess, really. There would be empty orange and apple juice bottles lying all over the place, posters and records scattered all across the walls, piles and piles laundry placed among the floor. If you had to summarize your whole apartment into a few words, you would say that it was an organized mess. Only you could find the things that you needed, you knew this room inside and out. What was that? You wanna know where the stash of apple juice is? In the closet. The turntables? In the corner. Nothing was ever really "lost" in the Strider household.

You took off your backpack and dug through it, finding your homework, and started working on it. Although you weren't the smartest kid around, you still managed to get pretty good grades. A's mostly, but there were always a few B's that would sneak in some time or another. Those were mostly the times that you had to work, because your brother hadn't been so successful in business that month or something. You would work at Radioshack, they would always accept your help there, you had an extensive knowledge of everything related to electronics. You had gotten the knowledge from your brother at a young age. Also, something else you apparently "got" from your brother, was the gay. Yes, you were gay, not even ironically. You had realized that when you were 15, two years ago to be exact. You just took a liking to dicks rather than breasts, and you just couldn't stay away from boys, you didn't know what it was about them, you just preferred them. 

Changing the subject, you continued to work on your homework and when you were finally finished, you were exhausted. You got up and walked over to your turntables. You decided you would start mixing up new beats and you already had some inspiration. The new kid. Every time you made new music, you based it off of something, whatever you could. And today, you chose the new kid. It didn't even matter that you didn't know him at all, sometimes you would base your songs off of total strangers that you had never talked to, he happened to be one of those people today. You just thought that, even though he was being beat up, he was a cute enough person to make a song about.

You started off with a simple melody and then started moving your fingers on the grooves in the vinyl, imagining his appearance, what he would be like, or sound like. You closed your eyes and continued to mix up some of the beats, making it a little more complicated. You improved upon the song until it was late in the afternoon. You transferred the music into your computer and kept adding more and more accompaniments. Sooner or later, the music flowed together beautifully and you smirked a little, proud of your new creation.

Most songs you made were scratchy and rough, they flowed together somehow or another. Different melodies and scales clashing together to make something more or less, enjoyable. But this song was different, all the melodies were soft and calm. You could only think about this guy's eyes. The eyes that were like two oceans swimming with a blue hue. The eyes that were so beautiful you could lose yourself in them. Before you knew it, you fell asleep, listening to your newly-made song and thinking about the guy you hadn't even met.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So John and Dave are paired up for a Biology project and the things I said about Mendel or whatever are all based off of what I learned like.... 5 months ago. I don't remember a lot about genetics haha. Alright read on, my friends :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, this was so badly written I'm sorry. I have a hard time putting my thoughts into words. I was and am still vacationing in Hawaii, so I don't really have time to write! I'll revise this again, but I'm just going to post it because I promised a chapter today. Thank you for sticking around for a second chapter guys!

==> Be the late guy.

What do you mean late. Oh wait, oh shit shit shit. 

You are Dave Strider and you woke up late. You were too busy last night mixing up new beats that you had forgotten to turn your alarm on. It's most likely that you'll be tardy for your first class but you don't really care. You quickly, in a haste, slipped on your broken record shirt and pulled on your black, skinny jeans over your boxers. You hurry and stuff all your homework and books into your backpack and race through your apartment, darting past your brother's room and quickly going down the 19 flights of stairs.

You hopped on your bicycle and rode off, going as fast as you possibly could. You sped past all the familiar bushes and trees and raced past all the traffic, and when you finally got to school, you managed to be only 30 minutes late for first period. Go you, Strider. 

After getting through the main office with all of the staff glaring at you, thinking that they must've assumed you were some sort of delinquent who was always tardy, you ran towards your first period with the excuse slip in hand. As you entered the classroom, everyone turned around, ignored the teacher's talking and stared at you. Apparently they had been discussing something, you looked around and saw pairs of people all around the classroom. You recognized someone who was sitting alone, it was that one new kid, he stared a little at you, but then immediately stopped when you gave him a small smirk. He had suddenly become interested in his fingers and pretended as if he had never looked at you. You turned to the class and gave your signature greeting.

"Sup." 

You saw a few girls giggle but you ignored them and walked over to the teacher, handing her your tardy slip. 

"David Strider, I hope you have a viable reason for being late for class. We were just choosing partners for one of our upcoming projects. And since you are late, you will assigned a partner. Jonathan?"

You turned around and looked around the classroom, there was no one named Jonathan that you knew of. But then the new kid looked up, adjusted his glasses and replied.

"Y-Yes, ma'am?" He stuttered a little and you realized that that was the first time you had actually heard him talk. His voice was a little high for a sophomore, cracked a little, and sounded dorky. You thought that was adorable. You resumed listening to what the teacher was saying.

"Do you have a partner currently?"

Right then, the whole class started snickering and the new kid---er, uh, Jonathan fidgeted a little in his seat and stared into his lap. 

"No, ma'am." He replied.

"Perfect. Your partner will be David Strider. And please, update him on what we are doing for this project." 

The teacher resumed talking and explaining the lesson as you strolled over to the desk next to Jonathan's and held out your fist for him to bump. He just stared at it and slowly bumped it back. You decided to start up a conversation with him, you knew his name now, so why not? 

"Sup." That never gets old.

"U-Uh, hey. Sorry you got stuck with me." You looked at him as he slightly squirmed in his chair, probably uncomfortable with your presence. But you didn't really care, the shades really had that effect on some people.

"Yeah, well it's fine, it's not like I would want to be partners with any of these losers." You used your hand to motion to everyone. "Just don't call me David. It's too sophisticated for a guy like me, call me Dave." 

He smiled a little, then cleared his throat before talking again. "...yeah, uh, you can call me John." You could tell he was nervous, he probably didn't have a lot of friends at this school.

You nodded before speaking again. "Alright, John. Tell me what this project is about, I don't know what we would need to be doing a project for, in AP Bio especially. I mean, seems like complete bullshit. What are we even gonna be doing, investigating the relationship between Mitosis and meiosis? Bitch please, those cells are splitting all the damn day. And besides, didn't I get enough of this shit in middle school? I don't need to know any more about these cells anymore than I need to." You don't ramble when you feel awkward. Of course not.

He chuckled and his smile grew a little, revealing the tips of his buck teeth. You thought that this guy could only get cuter by the second. "Well, not exactly. It's kinda this month-long thing where we investigate the cells of a plant and understand the reasoning of why Gregor Mendel chose pea plants to showcase the results of---"

You continued to stare at him and you ignored everything he was talking about, you just wanted to stare into his bright blue eyes. But after a few minutes of getting lost in the oceans that were his eyes, you decided to tune back in.

"---so, basically what I'm saying is that this project will take awhile, and we're gonna have to meet up outside of school. But I understand if you want me to do everything. Just to let you know, I'm not the best at genetics so I can only promise you that we'll get at least an A." He stopped talking and looked at your shades, probably trying to see if you were looking at him or not.

"Bro, why would I want you to do all the work? We're partners, right?" You asked.

"...yeah, but stil---"

"But still we're doing it together. We can talk about the damn project at lunch or whatever, assign who's going to be doing what." You replied in an assertive voice, interrupting him. 

"Oh--uh ok." His eyes trailed back to the front, taking small notes and then biting on the tip of his pen. At times, he would glance over at you, hoping you wouldn't notice. But of course, you were a Strider. You noticed, and you smirked a little whenever he looked over at you.

After a long, belabored lecture, the bell rang and you started shoving your biology book into your backpack along with your homework for that night and your journal. When you had stood up and looked at John, the height difference was obvious. You were at least two inches taller than him. You chuckled a little under your breath but your poker face took over again almost immediately.  
You and John walked out of the classroom and before you headed for different directions, you waved at John and gave him a wink. Wait you had your shades on, how would he see the wink. You internally cursed at your own stupidity and walked off, heading towards your next class; Pre-Calc. 

==> Be the loner.

What? You are anything but a loner. Well, right now you are. The teacher told everyone to get into pairs and obviously, since there were an odd number of people in the classroom, there was going to be one person that would be alone. And of course, with your luck, that was you. The new kid whose name was even dorky enough to get a beating. The one who everyone knew was a total nerd and had all the classes with the seniors because he had taken extra classes in middle school to get ahead.

After everyone had chosen partners, you sat there fiddling with your fingers. As you did that, the door opened. You looked up and saw one of the bystanders that watched you yesterday, specifically, the one with the shades. His hair was messy and it looked like he had the same exact outfit on as yesterday, except it was wrinkled and seemed as if it was put on in a haste. You assumed he had woken up late or something, considering it was 30 minutes into first period and this guy was nearly panting, you assumed it was from running to class.

"Sup" He said calmly.

You chuckled a little under your breath, watching him run a hand through his blonde hair, as he walked towards the front of the classroom. You heard girls in the front of the classroom start giggling, but you ignored it and looked up to the front of the room and watched as the teacher conversed with him. The teacher then looked to you and asked if you had a partner.... as if it wasn't obvious enough, there was no one sitting beside you or around you, they all probably thought you had some kind of disease that was only obtained by being the new kid. You scoffed softly so no one could hear and then responded.

"No ma'am." 

Your father taught you to always use pronouns like sir or ma'am when addressing people of authority. You've grown to become a young gentleman, but it was sad that the bullies at school couldn't see that.

After a little talking, the teacher had paired you up with David, or... that's what he was called by the teacher. He then started walking towards your desk and sat down in the one next to you. He told you that you should really just call him Dave, because he wasn't sophisticated enough for David or something. You talked to him for a little bit about what you were supposed to be doing for the project. Throughout the whole explanation, you just looked at his shades, trying to find some sign that he was looking at you. You examined his physical features on his face, his pointed chin his pursed lips. When you had finished, you started fidgeting with your fingers, unsure of what to say next. You realized that this Dave guy probably didn't give a shit about this project. Well, to be honest, neither did you, but it was worth a grade so you had to. You decided to speak up again and tell him that you could do all the work if he wanted, but surprisingly, Dave denied the offer and instead told you that you two could decided what to do together at lunch. You were honestly surprised at the fact he actually wanted to work with you on this project. And you couldn't help but be a little excited. You could actually make a new friend in this place, maybe this school year wouldn't be so bad with someone around, even if it was just an acquaintance. 

After class ended, you stood up and realized that Dave was actually really tall. Or you were just short. You don't know, you thought that you were at a pretty average height for your age. You stopped yourself from thinking about Dave's appearance any longer and put all your books and homework neatly inside of your backpack. Before you headed to your next class, Dave waved you goodbye. You slowly waved back, just in case he wasn't referring to you, you had faced plenty of awkward situations where you had waved towards people who weren't even looking your way. But you smiled at him anyways and then walked towards your Calculus classroom. You couldn't help but feel warm inside, knowing that you could have a chance at having a friend in this foreign school full of douches. 

Following a boring Calculus lecture, you started walking towards the lunchroom, expecting Dave to show up at any given moment. You first went up to the lunch line and received your slice of pizza before going to your normal lunch table where you sat alone. Most days, you would be the only one there, but on occasion, the janitor or maybe another teacher would come and sit with you, probably out of pity. But that just made you feel more awkward, considering you didn't really want anyone to feel bad for you. You continued to wait for Dave, starting to pick at your lunch and eat small bits of it. After around 20 minutes, you gave up trying to wait. You knew that it was likely he would ditch you. You sighed a little and threw away your lunch when you finished it, thinking that that was yet another friendship that could have been, but you guess you screwed it up.

You sat down and put your chin in your hands and sighed, staring at the surface of the lunch table. Your mind started trailing back to Dave, how he would use random hand motions whenever he rambled, and to be honest, you thought that it was kind of dorky that he rambled a lot, but you wouldn't dare say that to his face, God knows what he would do. You chuckled to yourself but was interrupted when a finger tapped on your shoulder. You turned around and was greeted by Dave.

"Sup." You liked how he always said that, it was kind of his thing. Something that only he did.

"H-Hey! Uh, where were you?" You questioned, wondering why he hadn't come to the lunch table earlier.

"Oh, fuck. Forgot to tell you. Everyday at lunch I go to tutoring first. I suck at History."

"Oh, no, it's fine! And I could totally tutor you, you know? I mean, I think I'm enough of a history buff to teach someone else about things." You started to trail off and mumble. 

Dave chuckled a little and then responded. "Alright, sure. But back to the topic at hand, do you wanna meet up for the project? I mean, I feel like we should meet up at your house because I will tell you now, you do not want to be at mine. I'm not going any deeper into that topic than is required."

"U-uh.. Hey, Dave? Uh... here wait." You quickly got out your pencil bag from your backpack and a piece of notebook paper.

"Do you have a pesterchum?" You asked him.

"Hell yeah I have a pesterchum."

"Great!" You ripped the paper in half and slowly wrote down on one of the slips "Ectobiologist" neatly and then handed it to him. "Here. Uh, that's mine." You smiled a him and then handed him the other slip of paper and the pencil. "You can write down yours, too. You know, so we can communicate outside of school without having to meet face to face."

Dave took the slip and pencil out of your hands and while messily writing down his pesterchum, he talked. "Why, John. I'm hurt, do you of all people not wish to meet me face to face?" He chuckled a little and handed the paper and pencil back to you. "It says 'Turntechgodhead' by the way. Just in case my handwriting's too messy or some shit" 

You took the paper out of his hands and looked down at it, squinting a little to read the messily written username. Just then, the lunch bell rang and you and Dave stood up, walking to your next class which you two coincidentally had together; AP English.

All throughout English, you two passed notes to each other. Some of them just had Dave's doodles on them, apparently they were characters from a comic that he had. You recall it was called, "Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff". You chuckled every so often when Dave had commented on the teacher's lecture, telling you little jokes while the teacher was explaining what to do. Every so often, you would look over at Dave while he was drawing his characters. You noticed that he would ever so slightly bite his bottom lip when he was focusing and he would adjust his sunglasses when they would move down from the bridge of his nose. Also, he never took off his sunglasses. Like, ever. Whenever the lights went off so that the teacher could present a powerpoint, Dave would still keep his shades on. You could only imagine how dark it was for him. You wondered if he only kept his sunglasses on to look cool or look tough. But no matter how much you tried to shrug it off, it bothered you that he never showed his eyes. 

However, you still felt a nice feeling whenever you looked at Dave, knowing that you now had a new friend, someone you could talk to. You were happy that you had a friend in this hell you called a school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really surprised at the number of hits, because this is my first fanfic and I was expecting literally no reads. But thank you all so much for reading! I know it was hard reading all that crap. I am so sorry. You do not realize how much happiness was brought to me when I got notifications of kudos, though, so thank you all so much. Again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave and John talk over pesterchum. A Dirk plot is introduced! *gasp*

==> Be the blonde one

You are now the blonde one, Dave Strider if you don't mind clarifying. Currently, your mouse is hovering over the "befriend" digital button on your pesterchum application. You aren't sure whether you should befriend John first or if that seems like you're being too pushy. You insult yourself as you continue to be indecisive. You provide evidence for both sides of the argument as you fumble with your two choices; befriending or waiting. You seem to do this a lot when you can't decided what to do. However, a certain notification saves yourself an extensive argument with... yourself. You really need to make some friends. You click on the notification and open it up.

"'ectoBiologist' would like to be your friend."

You smirk a little and your mouse hovers over the "Accept" button and you click. The silence is killing you on the inside, but then finally a chat bubble shows up.

"ectoBiologist [EG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 15:48"  
"EB: Hey, Dave! :B This is John? From lunch?"

You seriously did not just snicker. You did not. Fucking. Snicker. It was just a huff of breath through your nose and a little sound from your mouth...Fine, maybe you did. It was the emoticon. Damn you, John. Damn you. 

After a few minutes of contemplating what to type in response, you formulated the perfect response. Reasonable for any situation. It was perfectly crafted and took quite a bit of thinking, but it was wonderful and it would work.

"TG: sup"

You always know what to say.

"EB: haha, nothing much really. Just starting homework and researching our project."  
"TG: bro why are you so boring we can research that shit whenever we meet up"  
"EB: I know! but I just want to know more about the topic and stuff!"  
"TG: nerd."  
"TG: Ok well when do you want to meet up for this shit"  
"TG: we can be reuniting or something."  
"TG: doing a cheesy run together thing that they do in romcoms"  
"TG: fucking beautiful"  
"TG: people all over will gather to see this"  
"EB: haha whatever Dave. I was thinking we could walk to my house after school tomorrow? It's not that far, but I just wanted to let you know so you could tell your dad or something."  
"TG: sure, I'll tell my bro"  
"EB: where should we meet up?"  
"TG: we can meet at the bike racks"  
"EB: ... uh, I heard that's where people take... you know"  
"TG: drugs? yeah. ill be there earlier I guess. Don't worry man you'll be fine."  
"EB: oh ok, thanks Dave"  
"TG: ok gonna go and do homework like the productive little bitch I am"  
"EB: ok bye Dave! :B"

You got your backpack, took out all your homework, and immediately started on it. While you were working, you decided to put on your headphones and listen to the song you made about John. You couldn't help but grin when you heard the melody come in. You hummed along and you were just about to finish up your English paper when you heard the front door slam shut. You saved your file, quietly stood up, and walked over to your bedroom door, trying to listen in on what was going on. You heard your brother cursing and mumbling to himself. You grew curious and slowly opened up the door and peeked in the living room. The first thing you noticed was that Dirk's shades were off. The second was that he was sitting on the couch and had his head in his hands. 

"....fuck" You heard him mumble. 

You slowly poked your head into the room and watched him as he straightened himself up again and wiped his face on his shirt. Wait, was he...? No, he couldn't have been...

He sniffed a little.

Oh god, he was crying. 

"Jesus fuck." He continued to curse at nothing in particular. But then he mumbled something that surprised you.

"Damn it, Jake."

Your eyes widened in surprise, but then your mood suddenly turned to anger. You remember Jake. You remember how much your brother loved him. You remember how heartbroken he was when Jake dumped him. That stupid Australian accent had your brother falling head over heels for him. He had walked home alone drunk that day, and you had to work overtime for a month or so because dirk had stopped working and you two couldn't pay rent. You balled your hands into fists and opened up your door, practically stomping into the room. 

"Dirk."

Your brother looked at you with bloodshot eyes, he rubbed them with his gloved hands and looked towards you. He had probably gone to the bar or something. It had been ages since he had gone back to drinking. He cleared his throat and then spoke.

"D-Dave. Sorry, man. Didn't mean to--uh, I thought you were listening to music and shit" He said, trying to change the subject.

You looked at him and you couldn't help but be enraged. You responded while gritting your teeth.

"...Dirk, tell me what you were bawling your damn eyes about."

A long silence followed and you continued to stare at your brother, getting angrier at Jake by the second. Dirk broke the silence and spoke.

"Uhm, you---uh, remember my ex?"

You slowly nodded your head, your jaw clenching, trying to hold back from yelling.

"Yeah uh, Jake. So, I saw him." He cleared his throat a little before continuing. "We talked for a bit and we discussed some... Topics."

He had paused a little before saying, "topics" as if he had to think up an excuse or a replacement for what he was actually going to say.

"But there was nothing big." He continued.

You're pretty sure your eye twitched behind your shades. You took a deep breath and then responded in a snarky voice.

"Doesn't look like it"

He walked over to you, grabbed your shades, and looked you dead in the eyes, he knew that you insecure about the color of your irises. You tried reaching for your shades, but he grabbed your wrist, and held it in place, he had always been a lot stronger than you. He spoke, his voice was also much deeper than yours.

"Dave, go to your room." 

He let go of you and you turned around, you quickly walked into your room and sat on your bed. You looked at yourself in your mirror. You saw your eyes and you winced a little. You hated them. Their crimson blood color, it looked like you were subhuman, a mutant, someone who didn't belong. You closed your eyes. You didn't want to think about all this, you hated it when you saw your eyes. You needed your shades, you needed something to cover your eyes. 

You walked over to your dresser and opened up one of the drawers. It had been long since you actually used these, but they came in handy during dire situations so you kept a few packs. They were contacts. Colored contacts in fact, ones that could help conceal your eye color. Some days you chose green, or blue. But you mostly went for brown. No one ever noticed when you changed colors, considering you almost never showed your eyes, people wouldn't even remember your eye color by the next time you needed the contacts again. You picked out the brown contacts and placed them on the tip of your finger and then positioned it on top of your cornea. You did the same for the other eye. After blinking a few times, the contacts were in place and you looked at yourself in the mirror. Your reflection had a dark brown shade as the color of your irises. 

You went back to your desk and continued to finish up your English paper. After reading it a few times through and editing little bits of it, you printed it out. You placed it in your binder and moved on to your Pre-Calc, Biology, and. History homework. Damn. You hated history. You couldn't stand reading about all the shitty mistakes the human race made, as well as all the stupidity our world leaders had to overcome. But soon enough you guess you'll get better. With John's help you should be able to get an A in History. 

You finished up all your homework and put it all in your binder. You looked at yourself one more time in the mirror and sighed. You walked over to your bed and stripped down to nothing but boxers, these were your "pajamas" most of the time. You climbed into bed and slept.

==> Be the perfectionist.

You're not a perfectionist! Well, maybe. You don't really know. But what you do know, is that you are John Egbert and you are starting to freak out. What if Dave takes one look at your dad's harlequins and the refuses to be your friend anymore? What does he like to eat?? You needed to be a good host. 

You quickly organized your room. You straightened all your movie posters, cleared off your desk, alphabetized your movie collection, and put all of your dirty clothes lying on the floor, into the laundry basket. You tried vacuuming the floor of your room but you gave up. Who's going to investigate your floor? Not Dave. Maybe. You don't know what he does in houses. 

After you cleaned your room as much as you could, you went downstairs to go and talk to your dad.

"Hey, dad?" You tapped on his shoulder.

"Yeah, son?" He turned around, he was wearing a suit, tie, and had a pipe in his mouth. He was the perfect fatherly figure.

"So, I have a classmate coming over tomorrow for a project, is that ok?" You asked him.

"Of course! It makes me proud to know that my son is making friends"

You smiled a little at the fact your dad was ok with it and continued to talk.

"Well, he's really cool and I was wondering if we could... Cover up our harlequins. Or at least just move them into the garage for now."

You dad looked at you with a stern but confused look. 

"But why, son? We just put them up."

A silence followed. Your dad then spoke up again.

"You mentioned that this classmate of yours was cool. Are you embarrassed of the harlequins, son?"

You slowly nodded your head.

"Well, sorry, but they're going to stay up."

Your head snapped up and your eyes widened, you were almost 100% sure he would let you take them down.

"B-But why??"

"Son, I'm glad you're making friends but if they're gonna stick with you, they won't be weirded out by your father's collection of harlequins."

You groaned a little in reply, but you understood what he meant. You started walking back up the stairs and entered your room. You plopped down on your bed and stared at the ceiling. You sighed a little at the thought that Dave may not want to be your friend anymore.

Your mind trailed off and you started to think more and more about him. You thought about his pointed chin and the way he talked. How he used metaphors nearly all the time and cussed even when you were in class. You also thought about his broken record shirt and the way he walked. You would never admit this but your eyes always made their way to him and you would look at him a lot in class. You chuckled a little at that thought. But you immediately stopped yourself. Why were you thinking about these things? Were you supposed to think this way about your classmates? Maybe it's just been a long time since you actually made a friend that you thought about him more often than you should. Yeah. That was it! 

You took your mind off Dave and got out your backpack, taking out all your homework and placing it neatly on your desk. You took out your pencil and started working on the Calculus problems, checking your work before moving on to Biology, English, and World History. To be honest, you actually liked learning about History. You liked learning about the world's leaders, how they thought about ideas and how they created programs and items that help the world today. Yeah, maybe you were a nerd, but you honestly didn't care. Learning is fun and no one can tell you otherwise.

When you finished your homework, you walked over to your keyboard. You sat down in front of it and put you hands on the keys. It had been long since you actually played your keyboard and you used to have lessons. Now you just play it for fun and whenever you get bored. 

You turned on the keyboard, got out some old sheet music, and started to site read, your fingers moving swiftly across the keys. You grinned a little, you didn't get any worse at playing, if anything you were pretty experienced. Whenever you played, your past teachers had always told you that you got way too emotional with the music, but you didn't care. Whenever you heard chords collide or whenever the melody would switch from hand to hand you smiled. Sometimes you would sway just a little from side to side, enjoying the music flowing towards your ears. 

Soon enough, it was getting dark outside, and before you knew it, your dad was calling you down for dinner. You shut off the keyboard and made your way downstairs to eat. At the table your dad started to ask about Dave.

"So, who's this classmate of yours?" He asked.

"Oh, his name's Dave. We were assigned partners for this biology project and we're gonna work on it together!"

"I see you're excited for this encounter." Your dad chuckled a little, you squirmed a little in your seat. "Is he nice?"

"U-Uh yeah, he's pretty nice. I don't know too much about him though." 

Your dad didn't question any further about Dave surprisingly and you finished up your plate of food. 

"Can I be excused?" You asked.

"Sure, son. Just put the plate in the sink on the way out."

You smiled at your dad and placed the plate in the sink. You left the kitchen and went upstairs to your room. You locked the door behind you and sat down at the end of your bed. You changed into your pajamas, basically a T-shirt and boxers, and then got into bed. Before you went to sleep, you smiled a little, you really were excited to get to know more about Dave, but you couldn't help but feel a little nervous. What if Dave wasn't going to be at the bike racks? What would happen if you were alone? Soon enough, you stopped thinking about this and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's still really encouraging that i get hits and kudos, makes me feel all warm inside hehe. Thank you so much for reading and if you have any questions you can contact me through my tumblr, "theartistictvshowaddict.tumblr.com"


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad things happen to poor John. He and Dave go to his house to work on their project. John's point of view appears twice. :P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if you don't like long chapters, when I write I can't stop. (We won't stop... miley cyrus plays in the distance)

==>Be the blue-eyed boy

You are now John Egbert and you are walking towards the bike racks. Your hands are stuffed in your jean pockets and you're kinda scared. You've heard lots of things about the bike racks and what people... exchange there. But Dave said he would be there, so you had some kind of reassurance. 

As you made your way to the back of the school, you got a little more nervous but you continued to walk. You looked around, trying to spot a head of platinum blonde hair and bright red headphones. When you finally got to the bike racks you felt a massive pain on the side of your head. Before you could tell what was happening you were shoved onto the ground, your backpack went flying in god knows what direction, and your arms were behind your back. 

"U-Uh. Hey, what's going o-on?" You nervously asked.

The person who was holding your arms around your back tightened their grip and you whimpered a little. 

A voice you didn't recognize spoke, "Oh come on, it's been, what? Two days and we haven't given you a beating. We couldn't get you alone. You were always with Dave. Fucking. Strider. Oh and speaking of him, are you his new slut?" 

Your brows furrowed and you were about to respond but that was when you felt a kick to your gut and grunted. You felt the old bruises from the last beating start hurting again. Tears were at the edges of your eyes and you hung your head so your attackers wouldn't see.

Another voice that you remembered, spoke, "Answer us." It was Jack. "You know, Dave's had quite a few girlfriends... and boy friends." Your eyes widened a bit and you looked up.

"W-Wait, what?" You asked. Before you could say anything more, a punch was thrown at your face and your vision became blurred. 

Jack laughed a little and spoke again, "I'm guessing you're his little bitch aren't y--" You heard a grunt and it wasn't coming from you. You blinked your eyes a few times to clear your vision, and looked up. You saw Jack lying on the ground and Dave with his knuckles bleeding. 

"If any of you asses have any common fucking sense, you're gonna leave him alone and let him go." Dave said, with anger in his voice. But something you noticed, was that he didn't have his shades on. But you didn't have time to ponder on that as you felt your arms being released. You stumbled forward a little and regained your balance. 

You saw Dave pick up your backpack, he took your arm and started walking past the bike racks onto a sidewalk. You looked at his eyes as he walked, they had a brown color. Dark brown, kind of like chocolate. But they didn't look... real, if that made sense. Questions swarmed around in your head about Dave, but he interrupted your thoughts.

"Sorry, man. History teacher called me up to talk to me about my grade. Apparently I have a 'C' in that class now, but that's besides the point. I knew those jackasses did some bad things but I didn't know that they would actually beat up kids back there. And I definitely didn't know shit about Jack being there."

You let him talk for awhile and when he stopped and looked at you, you assumed he had stopped his talking and expected you to respond.

"Oh---uh, well, I'm fine."

"Ok, well we'll see about that. Just walk home and I'll follow I guess."

You nodded and started on your way home. Your house was only half a block away, so you and Dave managed to get there quickly. You unlocked your front door and you were kind of glad your dad was going to be late coming home. You were pretty sure you had a black eye. 

When you two got inside, Dave set your backpacks down, took one of your hands and walked you to a room that he probably assumed was the bathroom. When he realized it was a closet he cursed, closed it, and opened up another door that led to a bathroom. 

He pointed to the toilet seat and looked at you. "Sit your ass down."

You quietly obeyed, kind of scared of Dave at this point. He went into the kitchen and came back with two ice packs. He rummaged through your cabinets and found a first aid kit. 

"Take off your shirt" Dave ordered. Your eyes widened in surprise and you cleared your throat. When you spoke, your voice cracked.

"Uhm---no thank you. Dave, really, I'm ok!" 

You heard Dave grumble some obscenities and then he forcefully grabbed the ends of your shirt, despite your protests, and pulled up, revealing some now purplish and yellow bruises. Your face flushed a light pink and you covered your stomach, not wanting him to see anything. 

You heard him sigh and then talk, "John, we are not five. I can handle looking at a guy's fucking nipples. 

You put your hands to your sides and let Dave press the ice to your bruises. He bandaged a few of the cuts and then got the second ice pack and pressed your eye gently. As he worked, you looked at his eyes. You had never seen them before and you swore the color looked fake.

"U-Uh thanks" you said a little nervously.

"I'm surprised you're not fucking pissed, because I sure am." He seethed.

"Why?" 

"I wasn't there in time and you have bruises everywhere! And I'm even going to mention the black eye. I'm so fucking sorry, John." 

You looked at him, confused. "Dave...? I'm fine. Don't worry, and it probably won't happen again for awhile! Look, let's just start our project, ok? This isn't your fault."

You heard him mumble a few choice words in reply that you will not mention. He grumbled and you walked back into your room, he followed. You rummaged through your closet, found a shirt, and put it on. After, you walked over to your laptop and motioned for Dave to come over.

When you opened up the desktop you heard him snicker. 

"John, what is this?"

"Uhm, my laptop..?"

"No, your wallpaper, because I swear to god, if that's the slime thing from ghostbus---"

"Glad you recognized him!" You giggled.

He snorted a little and you contorted, "What? Dave, I think Ghostbusters is an awesome movie. And the 'slime thing' is great."

"Yeah, whatever. So what're we planning on doing for this project?" He said, changing the topic.

"Uhm, I was thinking we could talk about Mendel's reasoning for using pea plants and we could have two separate research reports. Or if you want, it can be a joined effort and we can have two speeches but one research report?" You asked him.

"Two separate ones. No speech. But we'll have to meet up again and read each other's or else we may be talking about the same shit."

You laughed in response and nodded your head. "Ok, so we can both have a rough draft by next week, right?"

He shrugged. "Sure." 

You gave him a few websites to look at for some information, and when you were done, you decided to make small talk.

"...so, your name is Dave Strider?"

"Mhm. What's your full name?"

"Oh, uh, Egbert! John Egbert." 

"Wow, are you serious?"

"What's wrong with it..?" You were confused, John Egbert was a totally normal name.

"...nothing. Just sounds really dorky. But it fits you."

You looked at him, faking hurt. You gasped dramatically. "What? I, of all people, am dorky! I don't believe it!"

He chuckled lightly and gave a faint smirk. "Pretty much. Hey Egbert, where ya from?"

"Uhm, Washington. The state. Not the capital. What about you?"

"Oh, Texas." He faked a Texan accent. "Born n' raised from when I was jus' a young'un."

You couldn't help but burst out in laughter. "Dave, what the hell was that?!" 

"It's meh accent, son. Don't diss the Texan." 

You grinned and giggled. "Ok, well can I ask another question?"

"Ask away." 

"So... are you one of those really popular kids?"

"What do you mean"

"Like, you get all the girls and all the guys are jealous of you and stuff."

He raised an eyebrow and looked at you. "...I'm not popular, I've dated quite a few of the girls, and guys sure have to jealous of this hot bod, John." To emphasize, he got up, put his hands on his hips and swayed his waist. "Can't resist the Strider, Egbert."

You snickered and put your hand over mouth, muffling your laughing. But then you remember what Jack said. He told you that Dave had dated a few guys and girls, and another attacker asked if you were his new... Slut. You almost immediately stopped laughing and you're pretty sure he noticed.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Oh---uh, nothing! Sorry I was just, uh, thinking of things."

"You are the worst at lying. Now tell me what's wrong." He was like jade!

"Oh, well... uhm, before you came, when I was being beat up, uh, this guy ask me if I was your new...."

"My new, what"

You practically whispered the word, hoping he wouldn't hear. "...slut."

His face stayed emotionless, you could tell his jaw was clenched, but he didn't say anything for a good amount of time. Silence followed your response, but he finally spoke.

"Let me tell you a story, Egbert. Because you know, might as well, you're stuck with me for a while anyways for this stupid Biology project."

You listened intently, you wanted to know more about Dave.

"So basically. Freshman year, little Dave comes to the profound and disgusting four-year prison called high-school, right? Believe it or not, first day I came here, I snagged myself a girlfriend. I guess some girls are really into a prepubescent, awkward, blonde losers. But whatever. Sooner or later, I dumped her. Too clingy. I got another girlfriend within days of the break up. Dumped her, too. Too bitchy. And then another one. Dumped. Horrible taste in music, I tell you. Then another one, this one was a guy and I was like, why the fuck not. But he kept on trying to take my shades off. So yeah, dumped. Then the----"

You interrupted him. "Wait, what do you mean? You just have brown eyes right?" 

You saw that he winced a little. He didn't answer you and instead just continued, ignoring your question.

"So basically, to summarize, I've dated quite a few people and all. Yes, all. Of my exes claim that I've fucked them." He scoffed. "Yeah, whatever. So I don't date that often anymore, too many people are called whores or sluts whenever they date me. I have a reputation but I honestly don't give a fuck."

You stared at him and couldn't help but be confounded. "So, you've dated a lot of people... And uh, back to the eye color thing, you have brown eyes right?" 

He sighed and looked you in eye. "Look, people have thought that I have green eyes, or blue eyes, or brown eyes. But it doesn't matter ok?"

You decided to stop asking him about his eye color even though you remained confused. You changed the subject. "So, uh, are you staying for dinner?"

"Sorry, but Bro's at home and as much as he disgusts me, I'd hate to keep him waiting. Alright, well. I'm gonna get going." He went downstairs and you followed him. 

He grabbed his back pack and carried it in one arm, he used the other to wave you goodbye. You waved back and closed the door behind him. You turned around and leaned against the door and sighed. You would never understand him. 

==>Be the annoyed blonde

You are now Dave Strider. You are, as of now, cursing at yourself under your breath as you walk back home. You just left John's house and you really fucked things up. At first all was good, You made him laugh and giggle, you helped patch him up, you discussed the project, but then you opened your mouth. Bad things happen when Dave Strider talks. Bad, bad things. You mentioned your godforsaken eye color and talked about your reputation. Are you fucking kidding me? How much stupidity does someone have to behold, to actually talk about these things? 

The whole way home, your mind went back to John. His laugh, god forbid, it was music to your ears. When he giggled, you couldn't help but smile, but of course, you're a strider. You don't smile, you just faintly smirk. Something else about John, his grin. Those fucking buck teeth makes him look like the most adorable person you have ever seen, the boy needs a damn orthodontist. But that smile could seriously brighten up anyone's day. It sure did for you. He was the cutest person you had ever seen. Another thing, when he blushed, it was like when he got flustered, you could just melt. Damn it. Damn it! What was this kid doing to you? 

By the time you got home, you were absolutely enraged. You reminded yourself that your brother was having relationship problems worse than yours and you just needed to calm the fuck down. You took a deep breath, cleared your mind of that Egbert kid, and walked inside. When you opened the door, you saw Dirk and.... Jake. They were at the kitchen table arguing, Dirk had been yelling at Jake but stopped himself when you came into the room. Jake looked like he was about to cry and you felt a twinge of guilt, but you automatically reverted back to a feeling of hate. 

"I think you should leave." Dirk said to Jake. Without another word, Jake left the house and waved you two goodbye. You glared at him as he left.

"Dirk, why was that asshole in our home?" You practically snarled.

He ignored your question. "Your shades are on the kitchen counter, I see you're wearing contacts today. Brown this time?"

You clenched your fists and snatched your sunglasses off the table. You walked to your room and felt like screaming into your pillow. You didn't, of course, considering that is not in the least bit cool. Instead you went over to your mirror, took out the contacts, and threw them away. You walked over to your desk and pulled out your homework. You were working on it when you got interrupted by a notification from your computer. You opened it up. 

"(1) New Message"

"ectoBiologist [EB] started pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 18:27"  
"EG: hey dave! :B i was wondering if you wanted to meet up again on friday?"

You were actually a little relieved, you didn't freak out John enough that he would stop talking to you. You replied.

"TG: sure"  
"EB: great! where do you wanna meet?"

You thought about it for a second and sighed.

"TG: we can meet up at my place if my bro isn't being a bastard"  
"TG: but I'm warning you, my bro has this weird puppet fetish so don't freak when you see all the shit lying all over the goddamn apartment."  
"TG: shits horrible. Oh and there's also swords. Everywhere."  
"TG: in the fridge, in the closet, dishwasher, wherever you can name."  
"EB: ....what"  
"TG: you'll know it when you see it. but yeah sure, I don't think my bro will mind"  
"EB: ok! well I should get going, another friend is pestering me right now"  
"TG: damn, egbert ditching me so soon"  
"EB: sorry! i just can't chat with so many people at once, it's confusing!"  
"TG: alright see you"  
"EB: bye dave! :B"

"ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering turntechGodhead at 18:43"

You exited out of pesterchum and continued to finish up your homework. You walked out of your room and knocked on Dirk's bedroom door. When he didn't answer, you knocked loudly and shouted.

"Hey BRO!" 

You heard him cussing and he opened the door.

"What is it, Dave" He had his shades on and he was intimidating to say the least. He was at least a head taller than you, you didn't show any type of fear and you replied.

"A friend's coming over tomorrow, is that alright with you? Oh, and it would be great if you could find some place to go for a few hours when he's over." 

He raised an eyebrow over his shades, and he leaned on the door frame. "Yes, it's ok with me. No, I won't go somewhere else, you greedy little fuck."

You groaned and looked at your brother. "Why not?" 

"I have shit to do. I can't just be walking all over town, and besides, it's not like I'll interrupt whatever you guys are doing. Since when have I ever actually gone into your room to check up on you?" 

You sighed and grumbled. "Fine. Whatever, just don't blare your music to the volume that birds will fall from the sky from your goddamn loud-ass music." 

"Agreed." He went back into his room and shut the door without another word, leaving you alone in the living room.

You walked back over to your room and laid down on your bed. You stared up at the ceiling and continued to think about John. It was obvious to you by now that you liked him. Maybe you should make a move? You thought about it for awhile and smirked. You had a plan.

==>Be the dorky one again.

You are now the dorky one. Again. Really? Dorky? Please, you are the epitome of dorky. Ok, well back to the important stuff. You just finished pestering Dave and you think you should update with jade and rose. You haven't talked to them in days! You clicked on one of your notifications.

"(3) New Messages"

"gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 18:47"  
"GG: joooooohn"  
"GG: what have you been doing?? >:c"  
"GG: ARE YOU DEAD"  
"EB: hey! sorry I haven't been responding, I've been a little busy"  
"GG: i see that. You normally answer me!"  
"EB: sorry! I made a new friend though!"  
"GG: who?"  
"EB: oh, uhm his name's Dave and he's really cool and nice"  
"GG: tell me more about him!"  
"EB: oh haha, he likes to listen to music, he wears these bright red headphones a lot. And we sit together at lunch, he likes to order pizza most of the time. I tell him that it's bad for you but he just tells me that pizza is "the food for the gods, John be quiet, you know it's true" haha, yeah he's pretty funny and he has this platinum blonde hair"  
"GG: ..."  
"EB: and we have a few classes together actually! I sit next to him in one of them and we pass notes a lot in class. apparently he has this comic blog and he posts these really weird characters that he made. I tell him that it's really not funny but he says it's for the irony of it. how stupid is that? Haha but I laugh at his pictures anyways hehe"  
"GG: ...."  
"EB: oh! and he wears these sunglasses almost all the time, today he didn't have them on and when I was looking at him, his eyes were brown! why do you think he would need to wear shades all the time jade? surely he doesn't have any kind of problem with his eyes. I think."  
"GG: John stop."  
"EB: stop what"  
"GG: remember when you told me that you weren't a homosexual?"  
"EB: yeah? What do you mean"  
"GG: I have a feeling, just a feeling, that you are one."  
"EB: what?! No no no jade you have it all wrong, Dave and I are just friends!"  
"GG: uh huh ok. Well you keep telling yourself that. Ok I gotta go, I'm already feeling really tired."  
"EB: you sleep too much jade. But ok, bye for now! :B"

"gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 19:02"

You decide to stop procrastinating on the computer and actually start your homework. You get it out of your folders and continue working on homework until about ten. Once you finished, you changed into your pajamas and put back all your homework into your backpack. When you got into bed, Dave was still on your mind. You thought about his appearance and his voice. The faint smirks he had when you started laughing at his jokes, the way his eye color looked almost fake, how he gave a small huff of breath rather than laughter. Your mind trailed onto the fact that he'd had more than four relationships in his freshman year of high school. You thought about how he had some kind of weird reputation. But you couldn't help but still be drawn to him, like a moth to light. But you still weren't a homosexual! You liked him as a friend and nothing more. You tried to stop thinking about Dave. 

You didn't.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened that day when Dirk was being a sad little human. Sorry if this is short, I had writer's block and I just did not have a clue what to write. (sorry, this was a hard chapter to write and the next one will come sooner and will be much better. sorry for the wait!!!)

==>Be the blonde one's brother.

You are now Dave Strider's brother, Dirk Strider. You are, as of now, sitting at your desk picking at a few metal scraps. You have started to slow down on your work. You stopped taking requests all together and you still have to do 6 more projects. You've been stressed for awhile and you decide to take a few days to give yourself a break. But being alone and relaxing means that you start to think. You think about your life for a moment. Dave, your parents, everything. Sooner or later, you started thinking about your ex boyfriend, Jake. 

You thought about all the good times you had with him. One time, you two were out playing paint ball and he got you at least 30 times. You got him about twice. You chuckled. Another time, you two were in your bedroom kissing and he let it slip that he had loved you. Your heart warmed at the thought but immediately, you froze up and put your head in your hands.

You remembered him all too clearly. His raven hair that would swoop up in the front, his rectangular glasses that covered his beautiful clear green orbs, his muscular build and lean legs, everything. You still know that you never got over him, you don't think you ever would, as a matter of fact. He was a big part of your life, and what you thought was caring was apparently overprotectiveness. You always texted him about how much you loved him and that you would come see him soon. You were always too busy with your work to show him how much you loved him. And that eventually became one of the reasons why he broke up with you. 

You ran a hand through your blonde hair and sighed. Maybe you could go to the bar. It's been awhile since you actually drank, considering you had stopped your drinking because it was starting to become a problem. But whenever you couldn't talk to people or you couldn't embrace someone and explain why you were sad, alcohol was there. Before your relationship had finally ended, you and Jake rarely had talked. You two had slowly drifted apart and you couldn't say you weren't mad at Jake. You really, really were. At the time, you thought he was some kind of god to you, but you were blind to the fact that HE was the one who've one your heart, HE was the one who ignored your messages, HE was the one who hurt you. 

You said to yourself, "one drink can't hurt" and walked out of the apartment, locking the door behind you. 

You got onto your motorcycle and put on your helmet. You started up the vehicle and it roared to life, you smirked to yourself. This motorcycle was given to you old, broken, and dusty. You fixed up the engine, oiled it a little, polished it up, and now it's your baby. You didn't go anywhere unless you were riding on this. You hunched forward, left the parking lot and headed towards the nearest bar. 

On the way, you shivered a little. You wore a wife-beater and black skinny jeans. It was colder than you expected but you continued to drive on, feeling the wind hit your chest and adrenaline run through you. 

You pulled up to the same bar you had drunken at, when you still had a problem. You walked inside and was automatically hit by the smell of sweat and alcohol. You walked towards the nearest seat at the bar, the bartender looked at you and recognized you.

"Hey, Dirk. You haven't been here in awhile." The man spoke.

"Yeah well here I am. Two shots gin and tonic."

He chuckled and handed you the two shots, "Same thing, huh? Even after all this time."

You nodded and tipped back your head, letting the liquid hit the back of your throat. It burned, but you ignored that sensation and focused on the buzzing in your head. You quickly downed the other shot and the burning lessened a little. You smiled a little, your brain getting a little fuzzy. That's when you felt a tap on your shoulder and a certain accent that you knew all too well. 

"Hello, old chap. What brings you here?"

Your eyes widened and you turned around. You were met with... Jake English. Your eyes took in his figure. He still had the same raven hair but it was grown out a bit yet it wasn't too long, he was still as muscular as before, his shirt sculpted his build lightly, his abs showing just a little, and his eyes. Goodness fucking gracious, they were exact same. The same eyes that looked like grass in the Spring, the ones that lulled you into a relationship you were thinking about again, all too soon. You responded, your words jumbled, your Texan accent slipped through a little.

"Oh, jus' thought I would visit. I haven't been here in awhile..." You trailed off.

He started talking again, "How are you these days? I haven't talked to you in ages."

You thought in your head, "I'm thinking about you, dumbass." But of course you didn't say that and responded with a simple lie. "I'm doing well, keeping up with work, just decided to take a break for a few days. You?"

"Oh--uh" he said, probably not expecting you to ask. "Uhm, well I'm doing mighty fine! As a matter of fact, I just came here to drink a beer and leave."

You chuckled a little as you saw him explain with hand motions and push up his glasses, could he get any more precious? Wait, no. No, you weren't going to think about this. You shook your head a little and looked at your fingers drumming on the countertop. 

"You okay, mate?" Damn his accent. Damn him. God fucking damn it.

"Perfectly fine. I think I might go back, Dave's gonna get home soon." 

"Oh, well. Could I get a ride? My friend dropped me off here as a joke and I'm pretty sure his car is gone..."

You raised an eyebrow and responded while taking out your wallet, paying for the two shots. "Sure thing, just tell me where to go, I suppose." You looked at him. "Do you want a shot? Or a drink, I guess."

He shook his head and spoke, "No thanks, I've already had my beer, I don't need anything else."

You shrugged your shoulders. "Your loss at a free drink. Hey, two more shots!" You yelled to the bartender. When he gave you them both, you offered one to Jake. "Last chance."

"It's nice of you, Strider. But I'm staying at least a little sober today." He chuckled.

You nodded and drank the two shots, feeling the dizziness starting to set in. You shook your head a little to clear it, and picked up your helmet. You headed outside, motioning for Jake to follow.

He sat down on the second seat of your bike and you handed him your helmet. He took it from you and put it on his head. You went through the back compartment and found yourself another helmet to wear. You got onto the motorcycle and started it up. You pressed the acceleration and started driving. 

"So where's your place?" You knew where Jake lived, but you had thought that he may have moved.

"Same as before." 

You nodded and headed in that direction. Ever since you had first gone to his apartment, you knew where it was. 

On the way there, you felt Jake's hands resting on your waist and you couldn't help but squirm a little in your seat. He was being so nice to you, it was like he wasn't the same person who broke your heart nearly a year ago. He pretended as if none of that had ever happened. By the time you pulled up to the apartment, you couldn't look him in the eye. 

He simply gave a small pat on your shoulder before taking off the helmet, giving it to you and saying goodbye. 

"I'll see you around, Strider!" He smiled at you and you watched as he fumbled with his keys and entered the large complex. 

You sighed and looked at the helmet. You wondered if it would be creepy of you to smell the inside of the helmet. You decided it would be, and you placed it back into the back compartment. 

You headed back and your mind was clouded with thoughts of Jake. Before you even knew it, you felt tears streaking down your face. You remembered every single thing that he had ever done to you at once. All the memories from when you had dated him clashing together in your mind. The night that he walked up to you and broke it off. Your heart breaking into pieces. Everything. Your feelings were conflicted, you didn't know how you felt. Whether it was anger or sadness, you couldn't handle it.

When you got back to the apartment you were mumbling and gritting your teeth. You honestly didn't care what your neighbors thought of you at this point, you could be as open with your obscenities as you wanted. You didn't give a fuck. By the time you reached your door, you were mumbling and cursing under your breath. When you unlocked the door and opened it, you slammed it closed and huffed. You hated everything that this Australian kid did to you. And of course, of all times to do so, you chose just now to fall apart.

"...f-fuck." You mumbled. You shook your head and you could feel your body start to tremble. 

Sobs started to wrack your body and you couldn't help but feel weak. How could someone like you fall apart like this. It's been nearly a year since your break up and right now you had to let out all your emotions.

You sniffed a little before saying, "Damn it, Jake..." and standing up. The first thing you saw was your brother in the hallway staring at you. 

Thoughts raced through your mind (Most of them cuss words) and after a little bit of rough handling, Dave ended up in his room and you had taken his shades away. You honestly felt bad though. You knew how mental he was about his eye color. How apparently he thought he didn't look human enough, but you would never admit that. Instead you went into your room, taking the shades with you, and decided to listen to music as loud as you could with headphones. Yes, you were a douche sometimes, but the kid needed to adapt somehow! He needed to let go of things. Wait---damn it. So do you.

==> Be the Australian kid he was talking about.

You are now Jake English and you were just going to get a beer at a nearby bar when you recognized a certain pair of anime shades and spiky blonde hair. You couldn't help but slightly move around in your seat, wondering if you should go up to him. Your curiosity got the best of you and you ended up tapping him on the shoulder and greeting him. This man that you had greeted, was Dirk Strider. He was your boyfriend, emphasis on the was, because you two had broken up in a rather depressing way. Something that you don't really want to think about right now.

When you saw him, a smile made its way onto your face. He had looked almost the exact same, his mouth was still in a straight line, and he showed almost no emotion. Then you realized who you were facing. It was Dirk Strider. Dirk. Strider. Your exboyfriend that you reduced to almost tears. But you ignored that thought and continued to converse with him. By the time you and him were finished with your drinks you realized you needed a ride. He, thank god, gave you a ride back to your place, and it didn't take long before he was gone.

As soon as you were dropped off at your apartment and you had entered the stairway you leaned up against the wall. You thought about Dirk that day, how he didn't seem to care that you were there. You starting thinking about if he had completely gotten over you and didn't really care about you anymore. You shook your head, clearing it of those thoughts. You went into the elevator and pressed the button for your floor. When it had reached it, you unlocked the door and practically fell back onto your couch. You put your head in your hands and tried to pull your mind off of Dirk but the thoughts of him just kept coming back. No matter how much you tried, you were reminded of the day that he had first kissed you, the day you two said "I love you" to each other, and how heartbroken Dirk looked when you told him you wanted to break up. 

You started getting mad at yourself, how could you do something that idiotic?! Dirk was being caring and nice and what do you do?! You called it clingy and you broke up with him. Oh, but not before going to another friend and incessantly blabbering to her about your problems. But need you remind yourself that this girl also seemed to have feelings for you, and of course, you were oblivious and didn't realize a thing. You continue to beat yourself up about this, you just couldn't believe yourself. All the memories flooded back to you all at once. They lingered in your mind and you couldn't stop them. 

You tried to distract yourself, going into your room and stripping to your boxers. Yeah, sure it was seven in the evening and you haven't eaten dinner, but you didn't care. You climbed into bed and closed your eyes, trying to fall asleep. Of course you weren't in the least bit tired and you ended up just staring at the ceiling. Sooner or later, Dirk was back in your thoughts and you felt so horrible. You felt horrible because of the position you had put him in, how he looked at you and tried to apologize for something that wasn't in the least bit his fault, how he had tried to stay calm during the whole thing, but slapped you in the end, realizing how mean you truly were. You wish you could apologize for everything. You wish Dirk, no matter how much it hurt you, had gotten over you. Had found someone better than you. You hoped that you weren't a big part of his life, that he didn't care about you. You didn't deserve him, or anyone.

The minutes ticked by and sooner or later, you fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guess who finally updated? Sorry for the delay guys. Major writer's block here uvu. Terezi comes into the story and meets John. More bullying but it's a little sadder this time around I guess.

==> Be John 

You are now John Egbert and you are meandering about the halls before school starts. You've found that if you ever want to hide from your aggressors, you would have to come inside the school before school starts. Teachers walk around, so that means no one can come and beat you up or they would get caught. The only real problem is that you have to run from school to home almost immediately if you want to escape Jack and his followers. But enough of that, as of now, someone is tapping you on your shoulder.

You turn around and see that it's someone you've never seen before. She had short, black hair that ended at the base of her neck and curved out a little. She wore red glasses, a shirt that had a turquoise libra sign on it, and red shoes. She didn't really meet your gaze, she looked as if she was staring blankly at your neck. She had a cane with her and she was feeling around on the floor, so you could only assume she was blind. Despite tapping on a stranger's shoulder, she talked to you anyways.

"Hi! You're... John, right?" She asked.

"Uh... Yeah, how do you know my name?"

"Well, I can't just be student body president and not know the new kid!" Her voice got quieter as she leaned in to you. "And sorry about all the douches at school, I know what they do to new kids."

It was quite obvious what they "did to new kids" when you came to school with a black eye, in the hallways, everyone around you started whispering and giggling. That made a few blows to your self esteem but you managed to continue.

You wondered how she knew that it was you, but you shrugged it off and replied. "It's fine. Sorry, but--uh, what's your name?"

"Oh! Sorry I didn't introduce with that, name's Terezi! Terezi Pyrope to be exact."

She seemed like a nice person, so you held out your hand to shake. "Well, hello Terezi. It's nice to meet you. Oh--uh, my hand's out for you to shake." You added on that last part as an afterthought once you remember she was blind.

She giggled and shook your hand. "Wow, such a gentleman! Sorry, John. But if you're planning on flirting with me, I already have myself a boyfriend."

You shook your head. "U-Uh no! I didn't mean it like that! I--uh, I was trying to be nice, because you know... you seem nice! And I didn't want to, uh, scare you or anything" You stuttered.

She laughed again and you swear it's contagious, you chuckled a little and she responded. "It's fine, John! And besides, I'm sure you already have your hands full, am I right?" She winked at you and grinned. 

You turned confused and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" 

She rolled her eyes and snickered. "Are you serious? What about Dave? I'm pretty sure he's got the hots for you. I've heard that you two always hang around each other at lunch and that he only smiles around you."

Your eyes widened and your mouth went agape. Terezi punched you playfully and laughed. "John, it's fine! It's just a silly rumor."

You winced at the small punch, even though it wasn't much, your bruises still hurt from yesterday. You chuckled nervously and scratched the back of your neck. That was a habit of yours that would probably never go away.

"Oh, well uhm.... it's not really true, I don't think. Sorry to disappoint" You joked. 

She snickered a little. "Alright, John. Just don't scare the Strider away, anybody and everybody either envies him or is in love with him."

Just then, the bell rang. "Oh--uh thanks for the advice I'll see--errr, talk to you later!"

"John, you are such a dork" She laughed lightly before continuing. "Talk to you later." She turned around and walked off, moving her cane around on the ground to watch for anything.

You walked towards your first class. Once you got there you opened the door and went inside. You waved to the teacher and smiled sweetly before setting your stuff down at your seat and sitting down, drumming your fingers on your desk. You started thinking about what Terezi had said. Even though it was a short conversation she had told you about Dave and how you two were... together? No, that couldn't be right. It was just a rumor. Just a rumor. 

After about a few minutes, all the students had filed into the room and taken their seats. Dave sat next to you as always and you couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable. You glanced at him every so often and from what you could tell, he didn't notice. He didn't really speak to you all that much until the class had ended. You two were out in the hallway when he finally spoke to you. 

"John, I might not be at our normal spot for lunch today."

You raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

He shrugged, "I have some shit to take care of, it's nothing much I'll just be gone for maybe like 10 minutes. It's fine, don't worry about it."

It made you feel nice that he had told you, it was as if he needed to notify you of something just in case. You found that sweet of him and proceeded to walk to your next class together.

AP English seemed to pass rather quickly, but afterwards, rather than walking and talking with Dave on the way to lunch, he had disappeared before you could even finish packing up your stuff. You sighed to yourself, a little let down that he wasn't going to be with you, even if it wasn't for that long. 

You walked to lunch and sat down at your lunch table, but before you could take out your lunch, a couple of people yanked at your hair and shoved you forcefully. You turned around and saw a group of jocks as well as Jack staring down at you. You gulped and tried to speak, but you were too fearful that they would hurt you. Hurtful words were shot at you from practically every member of the group and you couldn't keep track of what each individual person was saying. It was like they all had come up with weak insults just to spite you. 

"Hey, it's the gay faggot." One person said.

"I bet he's already had sex with that Strider kid."

"Fucking dick"

"How'd you like being his whore, hm?'

"Douchebag."

Your ears were flooded with insults and you looked up at them, tears pricking at the edges of your eyes. 

You could tell it was Jack's voice that spoke up a bit, "Look, the wimp's crying. What a piece of shit."

You covered your ears and looked down at your feet. You didn't think that name calling would be so hurtful. Each word practically ripped apart your heart and tore into your brain. The words floated through your head and you felt like you were going to break down. You weren't any of those things, you were a good person. You attempted to convince yourself that you were above this, that you didn't need to cry. You were just being weak and sensitive. But the more you thought about it, the more your mind twisted around to think that 'Yes, you are those things.' That 'Yes, you are a dick' and an 'asshole' and a 'douchebag'. You started to believe it all and you bashed on yourself for it. You felt tears rolling down your cheeks and you shook your head, trying to get rid of the voices, but they were still there. They were still laughing and talking and more people started to join in. They all thought you were horrible. You couldn't believe yourself, all the things they were saying were just words, yet they hurt you even more than the punches and the kicks thrown at you all in one.

But then there was one insult that stood out to you. One that hurt you more than any of the rest. One that was more than just a simple label. And it was this.

"Go kill yourself."

==>Be the cool kid. 

You are now Dave Strider and you think you're going to die. 

"You told him?!" You tried to keep your voice down but the volume raised as you neared the end of your statement. 

"Well.... not really. Like, I hinted at it VERY subtly." She smirked to herself as if she was proud of the horribleness she just caused.

You started to freak out, you trusted Terezi with anything and everything. You told her nearly everything and now you're starting to think that telling her that you liked the new kid was a bad idea. Your eyes were widened behind your shades and you could barely keep your voice calm. 

"'Subtly'?! What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!" 

She laughed a little before responding. "Come onnn, Dave. I just told him that 'Hm, I think Dave might have the hots for you'. No biggie." 

"What?!?" You're pretty sure your voice just cracked. No, it didn't. Your voice doesn't crack, what are you talking about? Pfft. 

She put a hand on your shoulder and smiled up at you, even though the direction she was facing didn't really lead to your face. You couldn't blame her, she was blind for god's sakes. "Dave, I'm doing you a favor, ok? Give me hmm.... two weeks. Two weeks. Two weeks and this John Egbert kid is yours. I promise." 

You didn't respond, you didn't know what to say, you were pretty sure your face was red with embarrassment and you were glad that you and Terezi were at lunch talking about this in secret. It hurt you a little to know that you left John alone at your lunch table today, but you really liked him and you would do anything to get him to reciprocate your feelings. 

She pat your back and draped an arm around you. "Dave, it'll be fine! Loosen up. Being tense is not cool kid behavior!" 

You relaxed a little and ran a hand through your hair. "Alright, alright. But, just don't screw shit up. Please." 

She laughed, "You are the one who came crawling to me, of all people, asking for help. So I will screw shit up as I please. But I pity you Dave, so I'll make sure I don't totally ruin your chances with John. Don't worry." 

You sighed and rolled your eyes behind your shades. "Alright, well thanks for the help, Terezi." 

"You are very welcome! And don't forget about my party this weekend. It's going to be awesome." 

How could you forget about her party, every year Terezi has an annual beginning of the school year party and all the time, there's hook ups, make outs, one night stands, and drunk people. You always went to the parties, but you never engaged in any of the drinking or games. You would normally stand off to the side and watch everyone.

"Of course, Terezi. I'll make sure to go."

Terezi cracked a smile and waved goodbye before heading to her lunch table. You waved back to her and started walking back inside. You were met with John being surrounded by jocks and other strangers you didn't recognize. All the worrying about John knowing you liked him slipped through your fingers as you quickened your pace to the lunch table. You pushed through the crowd and walked over to John, his hands were over his ears and he was cowering in his seat. No teachers were around and apparently the lunch ladies didn't seem to give a shit. Your whole heart started hurting when you saw him crying, tears on his face. All the people around him were just shooting insults at him, they didn't even care about his feelings! You only got mad and angry before practically yelling. 

"Everyone, shut the fuck up!" People fell silent and a jock stepped forward to meet your glare. 

"Are you going to save your little slut?" He smirked as if that was supposed to be witty.

"I don't see your mom anywhere. So, uh, no." A few people around chuckled. Now, THAT was witty. 

The jock's brows furrowed and you scoffed, "Didn't think that you would understand that anyways." You gripped John by his sleeve and tugged on his hand. "And sorry to rain on everyone's parade, but we're going to be leaving now." You snatched up John's backpack and started making your way back out through the crowd.

Before you could leave, Jack stood in your way. "Where are you going, dick?" You narrowed your eyes at him and didn't respond. A reply would only provoke another shitty fight and you weren't dealing with his shit. You dragged John out with you and started walking outside of the lunch room. He was still sniffling and wiping at his eyes. You stared at him as you walked, looking for any trace of injuries. When you didn't find any, you just sighed and stopped outside near the back of the school. 

"John, are you ok?"

He nodded and looked at you, his eyes bloodshot. You felt a pang of guilt when you saw his eyes. They were still a bright blue but they were clouded over by pink and it was like every single tear that fell from his face was because of you. 

"Are you sure?"

He stayed silent for a little before managing to squeak out a response. "No." 

You smiled at him sadly and pat his back. "I'm sorry I didn't come earlier." 

"It's okay." 

"Look, how about we just skip class for the day. I know you're a good kid and you probably don't want to do that kind of stuff but I feel like it's only going to get worse if you stay here."

He nodded and reached for his backpack. He took it out of your hands and smiled softly but you could tell there was still a twinge of sadness. "Ok."

You were getting kind of irritated with his one word responses but you brushed it off and, after throwing your backpack over your shoulder, hugged him gently. After a few seconds, you pulled back and smiled down at him. You felt the need to kiss him, to make him feel better but you could only do that, nothing more. And that made you feel restrained. As if you couldn't do anything, but you held back and pat his shoulder. 

"Let's get going."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dirk and Jake conflict comes up again. Oh dear, yelling, relationships, it's all here. Have fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus. It has been a month. And two days. I have not updated this for a month and two days. I am so sorry everyone, it's just that school's ending soon and that means studying like crazy so I don't slack off. The next chapter will come a lot quicker, I think. Hopefully. Thanks for continuing to read!

==>Be the blonde one.

You are now Dav----

==>Be the other blonde one, you idiot.

You are now Dirk Strider.

You thought about jake more than you shouldve. To be blunt, you still had feelings for him and you didn't understand why you didn't notice it before. Maybe it was the fact that you hadn't seen each other since the break up. You didn't know, but you could only think of his stupid hair that swooped up in the front and his stupid goofy smile. His love for adventure. You wanted him, you knew it. 

You decided you would actually get up from bed now. You stood up and stretched, your shirt ruffled up a bit and a little of your abs showed. You yawned and walked out of your room with Daves shades in hand. You set them down on the kitchen counter and went to rummage through the refrigerator for breakfast. You made yourself a bowl of cereal and walked back into your room to eat it. You picked at the small cheerio pieces that were in your bowl, swirling them around. You sighed and finished up the food before putting it to the side and looking over at your spreadsheets and sketches. You looked through them and decided you would try to start an order today. You heard the front door shut and you assumed dave left for school.

You cleaned up your room a bit and gathered all your needed materials. You were still in your boxers and t shirt but you didn't really care. The best thing about having your own business was that you could work in pj's and no one would know. You started revising your design for your robot and started on the outer core. 

People would tell you that you were extremely smart for a kid who could just make robots in your free time, but honestly, you didn't see what was so smart about it. If you liked to do something, you did it. The thing you liked to do just happened to be building robots. It took a lot of effort and money to make one but it's always worth it in the end when you get gratifying comments from customers and a fuckton of money. 

You started programming the chip needed for the robot and started wiring up its circuits. Creating the energy system alone took you almost 4 hours. You cut yourself a few times on sharp pieces of metal throughout the whole process but it wasn't too bad. Scratches were all over your hands but it wasn't anything you couldn't handle. You bandaged up your hands and heard a knock on the door. It was weird considering it was about noon and nearly no one ever came to your apartment. You walked out of your room and opened the door. 

Holy shit. 

It was Jake. Right now. He was at your door. He had flowers in his hands and his gaze was directed at his feet. 

You raised an eyebrow and spoke. "Hey, I think you got the wrong place."

He replied and shook his head. "No, uhm, I believe this is where my old chap lives. His name is Dirk Strider. Sir, have you seen him anywhere?" He chuckled softly and damn it. His smile, it was the same. His dimples were still there. His hair still swooped up in the front. He was still the same height. He was the same person. He was still Jake. You still loved him.

You snapped out of your thoughts when he cleared his throat and held out the flowers. "In movies, this is the part where you take the flowers." He joked.

You took the flowers and smelled them. You cracked a faint smile and thanked Jake before speaking, "Wanna come in?"

He pushed up his glasses and chuckled nervously. "Well uh, do you need pants? Or..." He motioned your boxers and your eyes widened. Your face turned a faint red in embarrassment and you held up your index finger basically meaning "one sec". You closed the door in his face and quickly threw the flowers on the table and hurriedly pulled on a pair of pants before rushing back to the door and opening it up again. 

"How about we start over? Like, we do the same thing but this time I have pants." 

He giggles and shakes his head. "Why, it's fine, Dirk. May I come in?" 

You nodded and opened the door for him to enter. 

"Welcome to the Strider home." You motioned to your apartment and bowed. 

He chuckled lightly and responded. "A truly amazing introduction." He sat down on the couch and looked up at you.

To be honest, this whole situation was awkward. You couldn't help but feel like squirming a bit. But you didn't. You are a Strider, are you kidding me? You are the epitome of cool and if you were to squirm. God, you wouldn't even know what to do with yourself.

Jake, on the other hand, looked as if he was talking to his dad after he had gotten a D on a test. His eyes were on the ground and he was nervously scratching the back of his neck. You finally spoke, "So... Why'd ya come here?" You had a bit of a Texan accent but it never showed through too much.

Jake looked up at and chewed at his bottom lip. "...Well, I--uhm.... wanted to talk! I haven't really seen you much." 

You raised an eyebrow and sat down on the couch next to him. "Alright, well let's talk, then." You had a feeling you knew where this was going but it wasn't a bad idea to press on, right? 

You observed Jake as he spoke, "Uhm... so, how has your robot building business been doing?"

"It's been doing well." You gave a short answer before looking at Jake again. You couldn't believe yourself, you were just entranced with his facial features, his defined jaw and deep emerald orbs.

"Uhm... I've been meaning to talk... about---uh, other things."

You gave him a look signaling him to move along.

"Well, I just, can we talk about that---uhm, that night?"

You did not just raise your eyebrows. Put those back where they should be. You're pretty sure you almost just lost your cool there. Come on, Dirk you're better than this. "You mean, the night we broke up?" You managed to keep your voice calm and stern, good job, Strider. 

He nodded before letting out a nervous chuckle. "We. Never really ended on a happy note there. And I kind of wanted to fix it. Kinda."

"Kinda?"

You could tell he was having a hard time with this, he scratched the back of his neck before continuing. "Y-Yes. And uhm. I'm sorry" 

You raised an eyebrow at his failure of an apology and could feel your anger from that night slowly returning. You forced yourself to stay under control, however.

You kept your voice under control and continued. "You're sorry. And that's it. That's all you have to say."

"N-No! I mean, uhm... Dirk, look, I was really a hell of a jerk back then and I just wanted to say that you..."

"I... what"

"You didn't deserve any of the shit I put you through, ok? No, no you deserved way more than me, is what I'm trying to say."

You let out a sigh before turning to face him fully. You could not believe him. This guy. This guy that you were and still are, undeniably, in love with is apologizing. Your feelings are all swirling around in your head, conflicting with each other. Jake was an absolute piece of shit in your relationship and you knew that. 

"Jake. I won't forgive you." His eyes, god, no. His beautiful eyes. They were tearing up and he was looking at you and he was crying and fuck fuck fuck. You have to keep going, don't break. Don't falter. Don't mess up. 

"Wh-What? Y-You... y-you don't?" He was a sniffling mess, and the smile that used to be plastered on his face was completely gone. All that had replaced it was solemn and sadness. 

You cleared your throat and it took nearly all of your will to not break down right there and forgive him, because you knew you couldn't. You shouldn't. This person did more than just break your heart. You were in absolute pain for months after the break up, you could not comprehend your love for this stupid, dorky kid. You decided you would just let everything go as of right now. 

"I don't. Now Jake, let me explain. I loved you more than I thought I could ever. Ever in my life. Conceivably feel for another person. I could not understand how I could maintain that amount of emotion for any living thing. But then you showed up. You, with your dorky, thick, rectangular glasses and your beautiful green eyes. I was completely and disgustingly in love with you. However, after that point of 'love', I realized I had just fallen into this abyss where I was completely blinded by what was going to happen. I just kept going, Jake. I just kept telling you that I loved you and wanted you to talk to me whenever you could. Then came the realization that we couldn't even begin to decipher our relationship problems! I know I'm the one who 'broke it off' but I believe I still 'got the short end of the stick'. Suffice to say, you hurt me more than anything in my life, Jake!" 

By the end of your statements, your voice had faltered and you were practically yelling. Jake had taken off his glasses sometime when you were talking and was rubbing his eyes, what a complete mess. He looked as if he was ready to break or as if he was on the brink of yelling at you. 

"D-Dirk! I don't think you have any goshdarned fucking idea how much pain I was in as well. How about I elaborate on the fact that I had nearly no ability to communicate with others. Note that this was ages ago. We were sixteen, do you remember? I surely do, because I grew up on a fucking island in the middle of nowhere! How did you expect me to understand what you were getting across or get through my obliviousness?! Maybe you don't realize that you were another reason our relationship went down the drain! Do you know what you are, Dirk? Do you know? Extremely neurotic! You like to try and be in charge of everything around you, whether it be a robot, a computer, or say, a human being!" His fists were clenched and he had stood up in the middle of talking. You felt sick. You could not believe the person in front of you, you were in love with this person. How could you be so fucking blind?

Did he just groan? He did not just fucking--- he did it again. God damn it, the whole situation wasn't your fault in the least bit! How could Jake just dump it all on you!?

"Jake, how on Earth is that a valid excuse for your behavior in our relationship?!? You were more than just 'socially awkward', you were practically a fucking naïve, ignorant, enraging little shit throughout the whole entire relationship!! You did not once reply to my texts, you were a piece of fucking shit, you hear me?!" You didn't care if there were tears in his eyes anymore, you wanted him to know that he hurt you. He hurt you and all those feelings were rushing back to you all at once.

"D-Dirk!" Tears were rolling down his cheeks and you kept up your stoic face, making sure you showed nearly no emotion.

During this, you didn't realize that the door had opened and Dave was standing in the entrance, staring at you two.

"I think you should go." You stated.

Jake left without another word, wiping away the tears that were reforming in his eyes. He avoided Dave's glare as he left. 

"Dirk, why was that asshole in our home?" Your little brother asked. 

You ignored his question, tossed him his shades and watched as he practically stomped back into his room. He's such a child. You took in a deep breath and thought about what you were going to do about the whole "Jake" situation. You glanced over at the bouquet of flowers that were tossed onto the kitchen table and picked them up before taking a small sniff. You shook your head before begrudgingly throwing them away into the trashcan. What a waste of flowers. 

==> Be the crying boy.

You are now Jake English. Ok, so maybe that confrontation didn't go so well. You aren't the strongest person when it comes to emotions. You just can't hold in tears, ok? Don't judge. 

As of now, you are walking down the steps and trying to keep from having more tears run down your face. You must look like a mess. You just didn't understand why Dirk was being so stubborn and trying to blame YOU for the relationship! It most definitely wasn't your fault and you knew that. But, when you went over to his apartment, that wasn't your initial goal. You didn't want to anger him, it was just... you wanted him back. Badly. 

For months, you wanted to hear his voice, see his stupid, pointed shades, hold him, hug him, tell him that you wanted him back in your arms and that you would do anything to keep him with you. But of course, you knew that wasn't realistic, this wasn't one of your cheesy-ass movies where the couple reunites in the end. It's just real life. You knew there was a chance that Dirk wouldn't take you back, that he would just tell you to leave. But with your optimism? Jesus, you're ignorant. 

You spent the rest of the night either feeling bad for yourself, having a mini movie marathon, or eating ice cream. You are legitimately a mess.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Dave and John spend their day at Dave's house. John and Dave both notice things about each other and John ups his pranksters' gambit.

==> Be the bullied one.

You walked with Dave to his apartment after you both left school and you didn't talk the whole way there. You two walked in silence as you stared at your feet, slowly and begrudgingly moving along. All that was heard was the slapping of your sneakers against the hot Texan sidewalk. God, summer sucks. 

"I'm still sorry" Dave interrupted the silence and looked at you, you didn't look back at him.

You sighed. "I know, but it wasn't your fault."

"You know---only if you don't mind---what did those fuckers say to you?"

You couldn't help but snort a little at Dave's wording. "Those 'fuckers' didn't do a lot, don't worry about it." You shrugged it off, not wanting to think about it again.

He stopped in his tracks and looked at you. "They reduced you to tears without even placing a single finger on you. Either they have some serious mindfucking powers or they said some pretty fucked up stuff."

You managed a small reassuring smile. "I'm doing fine."

"Ok, smiling isn't going to convince me. Look, I get it if you don't want to talk about the imbecilic words that spewed from those douches' mouths, but if you're really okay with telling me, I need you to do that."

You laughed a little, this guy was such a dork. "It's nothing, really!"

"Uh huh sure."

You decided to not bring up the conversation that you had with Terezi. You had a feeling that the conversation would turn awkward very. Very. Quickly. So you avoided the topic and for the rest of the walk to Dave's apartment, you both stayed silent. When you got there, you honestly was not expecting the flights of stairs that were in front of you. Half way there and you were a panting mess. Jeez, was it always this hot? You really should have worn a short-sleeved shirt today. You glanced over at Dave and he was doing completely fine, carrying both yours and his backpack. He must get used to walking up and down these stairs everyday. By the time you got to his front door, you were ready to collapse, your feet aching.

"How do you manage to do this everyday?" You asked, breathless. 

"Strifing. Going up and down these stairs makes you pretty much immune. I dunno." He shrugged before unlocking the front door.

You raised an eyebrow and hummed. "What do you mean 'Strifing'?" 

He answered with ease, as if he got this question nearly all the time. "As in, I get a note from my Bro if I did anything wrong, shitty, or stupid, and we go to our roof. And strife. Rules are you can't aim for the neck, wrists, or forehead. You get your opponent on the ground and your sword to his chest, then you win. If you wanna call time-out, that's for pussies so automatic loss plus chores. If you get hurt, you tell your opponent immediately. The strife stops. And no one wins."

Your eyes widened and your mouth laid agape. "Whoa..."

He moved his hand to close your mouth. "I know. 'Whoa' indeed."

He opened the door and held out his arm in welcome. "Welcome to Casa de Strider" He said with a straight face.

You laughed at his introduction and walked inside. You were greeted with what you would just normally call a mess. But knowing Dave just a little made you think that this is how he liked it. You really only cared about the fact that there was air conditioning and the cool air that was coming towards you. Take out boxes littered the kitchen counters and jugs of apple juice were placed all around. Newspapers were strung about and a small TV was in the living room in front of a large futon. 

Although you didn't necessarily mind the mess, you decided to make a small remark. "Your apartment is quite clean." You joked.

"Hey, I like it this way. And besides, it's messy. Not dirty." Dave said, you rolled your eyes and plopped down his futon.

He sat down next to you and handed you your backpack. You took it and set it to the side.

"Sorry you have to deal with me." You stated, looking down at your fingers and fumbling a bit with them.

"What the hell do you mean?" Dave asked, glancing down at you.

"Well, I mean, I'm guessing you were pretty cool before I came around. I'm probably dragging you down."

He scoffed and continued. "Is that seriously why you're sorry?"

"Well, yeah! I mean, someone like me? Hanging out with..."

"With me." You heard a little bit of hurt in his voice and immediately went to apologize.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." 

"So, uh, let's continue our project!" You said, changing the topic.

*

Right now, you don't think you could be happier. Dave is the most hilarious person whenever you get him alone and get him to talk. Also, did you mention that he is an. Absolute. Dork? Apparently he has a webcomic of his own called SBAHJ with characters named Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff. He draws the characters by themselves and you must say, they're... interesting. He rambles on and on sometimes, but you like to listen to him talk, so you don't stop him whenever he starts to make long-winded conversation. Not only that, but he makes way too many metaphors for it to be healthy.

"Hey, Egbert. Get your ass over here, you gotta see this shit." He lured you out of your thoughts and you walked over to his desk and was greeted with a new page for SBAHJ.

"Dave, you are a horrible artist." You stated bluntly, before giggling and looking at the awful neon comic sans lettering that littered the page. "God, what is this?"

"It's called talent, Egbert. True talent." You laughed and read the page, squinting your eyes to dull down the bright neon.

"Is it supposed to be all scratchy like that?"

"John, you're being picky. Digital Art is a true talent that I, David Strider, behold. And this shit, scratchy or not, is my fucking love child. A tablet and me make babies to create this beautiful son of a bitch. Egbert, I can't be treating you like a goddamn princess making the font in Times New Roman because Comic Sans is the shit. Also, these characters? Forged from my mind. I created these original-ass characters for an entertaining story and you're totally jacking up my shit by asking if it is" Dave imitated your voice. "'supposed to be scratchy hehe' because I do what the hell I want and if you want to know why, it's because it's my goddamn style. Gotta make this shit all cheesy and horribly underdone so that people know that The Dave Strider made this shit. The Dave Strider as in capitalizing each first letter because it's that important. You got that?"

You laughed and nodded your head. "I sure did."

"Alright, this shit is delicate like a fucking flower and has a long-ass process, basically..." Dave started yet another rambling session. 

You stared around the room, ignoring Dave's rambling as he continued to explain how he made the webcomic. Not that you weren't particularly interested, but you would much rather observe his room. You focused on random objects and scratched the back of your neck as you looked around. From what you saw, he had shelves lined with jars full of.... dead animals? Ook. Pictures of himself were strung about the room and you couldn't help but chuckle under your breath as you tried to imagine a 16-year-old Dave taking selfies. He had turntables located in the corner of the room that had way too many buttons, switches, and knobs for you to understand what any of them were supposed to do. Cords trailed all along the floors, a few posters hung up around the room (you had waay more), and he had a few katanas on the wall.

You decided to question nothing and just stare at the back of Dave's head as he worked. You watched as he nodded along to some beat that was probably inside his own head. You smiled to yourself, thinking that this kid was seriously a true dork. Unlike what you thought he would've been at all a few days ago. As you observed him, you realized that you really like the way he smirks to himself, how his hair just naturally looks suave and cool (unlike yours), and how he taps on the space bar lightly and repeatedly whenever he's deep in thought. You think that you're trying to convince yourself that you don't harbor romantic feelings toward Dave.

You tried to get your mind off the subject and instead looked around Dave's room again, you spotted a bucket next to his shelf and grinned to yourself. You glanced over to Dave and then thought of an amazing idea! ...You don't think Dave will mind helping you out with your prankster's gambit, right?

==> Be the cool kid.

You are now Dave Strider and god damn it, you really thought that you were going to so much more suave and cool with this kid. You've been sitting in silence for probably 5 whole minutes and all you've been doing is staring at the dork when he wasn't looking at you. You've realized that you notice way too much about this guy than you should. On the way here, you've noticed that the way he walks has absolutely no confidence or stride like yours does. He walks carefully and well, loudly. The whole journey to your home consisted of only the sound of his sneakers hitting the concrete stairs. Of course you didn't really mind. You liked knowing that you were in his presence. Another thing you noticed was how he glances around whenever he's feeling awkward. Meaning, nearly all the time. Some people may think that being awkward was just a complete turn off and totally not worth it. But to you, whenever John was awkward. It was cute. Adorable even. 

Oh shit, you've been staring at him for way too long. It's one of these times that you're glad you have your shades to cover your eyes. But you still think that he might have noticed. You all too quickly direct your gaze to the front, your eyes resting on your way too bright webcomic. You decided to make some excuse to leave the room. You really were not handling this situation well. Although you weren't necessarily "losing your cool", you needed to make a plan. 

"I'm gonna take a piss." Nice save, Suave McCool. You mentally cursed at yourself before getting up and left quickly enough that you couldn't see the shit-eating grin John was sporting as he looked over at the bucket in the corner.

You entered the bathroom and looked in the mirror before trying to calm yourself. You didn't realize you left the door open just a crack. You ran a hand through your blonde hair and sighed before shaking your head. This Egbert kid wasn't even coming onto you, he was just doing his own thing. He was just being his awkward self that plays around with his long, slender fingers and has the most unruly mop of jet black hair. And you found that adorable. You find everything about him adorable. God, you are so fucking gay. You sighed before washing your hands and rubbing at your eyes under your shades. What the fuck were you doing? You weren't even sure if this kid was gay. You weren't even sure if you liked him! Wait, no. You definitely do. You like him a lot.

You cooled yourself down and decided that you were about ready to go out and turn on the Strider charm. Win over this son of a bitch. You were not going to get flustered around this kid.

You opened the door with confidence but then immediately after, you heard a clang and ice cold water soaked your hair, shoulders, and part of your chest. Your hair was flattened down and your shades were askew. You slowly took off the bucket and adjusted your sunglasses while John was bursting out laughing, holding his stomach because of all the giggling.

His mouth was open, laughter filling your ears. God, his laugh was music to your ears, you honestly did not care how embarrassing you looked right now, literally almost everything on your upper chest wet. You didn't care because you were so entranced with John.

"Dave! That was hilarious! You should see your face!" He exclaimed, still ridden with giggles and chuckles. You really like his voice, it was a dorky voice and you were one hundred percent sure you would love to have that voice whispering in your ear. Holy shit, teenage hormones come from literally no where. 

He laughed a little more and walked over to you and giggled in front of you. You really like his laugh, they were light and happy chuckles and whenever he was running out of breath, it was just unique.

He smiled, his bucktoothed overbite showing. You really like his smile, all perfect, straight, white teeth except for the two buck teeth. They protruded out a bit but that just made him so goddamn cute.

You didn't stop your movements went you flashstepped over to him. You took off your shades and closed your eyes before shaking your hair in front of him, water droplets getting all over him.

"Daave!! Hahahaha" John was laughing again and shoving you playfully. You couldn't help but let your pokerface slip just a little and let a chuckle slip past your lips. You put your shades back on and he stuck his tongue out at you. 

"That was the best! You were so not expecting that! Hehe" Why the fuck was he so cute? Jesus.

"You better watch your fucking back, Egbert. I'm gonna get back at you some time or another." You said in a fake, menacing voice. He giggled in response and rolled his eyes.

"You can't ever beat the pranking master!" He said, using his thumbs to point at himself.

"Whatever, man. I'll be seeking my revenge soon." You replied while ruffling his hair. He whined and tried to fix it, only resulting in it becoming more disheveled. You smirked and rolled your eyes at him. 

 

So maybe you aren't going to "win over this son of a bitch" just yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for staying with me! I haven't updated in nearly two months because of school, I am so sorry guys! Hopefully this chapter will... kinda make up for it? Also, I need your guys' help: 1) I don't have a proofreader for this. If you're interested and you have your own work that you would like to show me so I know how qualified you are, just send it to my tumblr. (theartistictvshowaddict) 2) Would you like for me to continue the DirkJake plot on the side or would you like for me to detach it entirely and dedicate a whole other fanfic to that? OK, guys, enjoy reading!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake has a dream (more like a nightmare) and realizes what he did wrong. He meets someone new. This someone may or may not be a problem sooner or later. (I'm horrible with keeping secret jfc)
> 
> Dirk contemplates everything, it's disappointing that he didn't account for other people that could possibly get in the mix.

You were surrounded by white, walls nowhere to be seen and the landscape barren. You got up on your legs shakily before frantically looking around, your heart hammering in your chest. There was nothing around you, nothing to be afraid of, but you could feel your hands shaking and your head starting to hurt. 

Out of nowhere, something or... Someone was coming towards you at a slow, walking pace. You squinted your eyes in confusion and took a step towards the approaching figure. 

"H-Hello?" Your voice croaked. The shadow like figure only came closer and slowly, you started to see more of the figure that you now recognized as a human. A male to be specific. 

"Wh-Who are you?" You stuttered, your voice small and weak. You took another small step towards him and started to make out the sight of his white shirt with an orange hat symbol in the center, and black jeans that clung to his legs.

He suddenly approached you and you looked up at him, observing his facial features, he had a broad jaw with a small amount of stubble, and amber eyes that you remember faintly getting lost in. 

You recognized him. It was Dirk. 

He leaned in to you and suddenly the environment around you changed. You were now in a noisy, much-too-crammed bar. This was where he dragged you to for your 21st birthday. You remember he made you dance a bit oddly you must admit, before drinking alcohol to your heart's content. You recall waking up with quite the hangover, but with Dirk sleeping peacefully right beside you with his arms around you protectively. You smiled softly at the memory. 

Dirk continued to lean in, closing the distance between you two and embracing you in his arms. His skin was warm to the touch and his strong, toned arms pulled your waist closer to him. When he connected his lips with yours, you let out a small breath you didn't realize you were holding. The kiss was warm and sweet, his soft lips seeming as if they fit perfectly with yours. You wrapped your arms around him and leaned in closer before...

The environment changed once again, but this time Dirk wasn't kissing you. You and he were in his apartment and he was obviously extremely angered. His eyes were bloodshot with tears and were on the brim of falling. He was pacing around the small room, clenching and unclenching his fists. He turned to you and you backed up. His voice was muffled but you knew that he was yelling at you, his words jumbled and unable to be heard. You felt pain squeezing at your chest and it started to become hard to breathe. You remembered this night very clearly and you knew every word that was coming out of Dirk's mouth. 

This was the night of your break up. 

You were reliving the worst mistake of your life and you swear you could feel your heart breaking when you saw the pain in Dirk's irises. How the soft amber color was seeming as if it were strained and swirling with emotion. His angered voice was still muffled and you could only make out a few sounds. Your breathing turned into hyperventilating.

He stopped in his tracks and looked over at you before walking towards you. You felt your chest squeeze.

You remembered this moment all too well. Your heart twisted. 

"It's over, Jake." 

==>Be Jake English

You woke up with a start, clinging to the bed sheets. Your lungs felt like they weren't getting enough breath and you quickly rummaged through your drawer before snatching your inhaler and bringing it up to your mouth. You pressed the button and felt air flowing into you, your lungs relieved. 

You sat up, hunched over, and put your hand to your heart, the beat was fast and you felt the evident thumping in your chest. You carded a hand through your hair before shakily getting up and starting to dress yourself. You were distracted but you could still feel the pain in your chest that was slowly going away. You could also still feel Dirk’s lips on yours, the soft, warm heat enveloping your mouth and the slow, passionate emotion in it before it was interrupted.

The dream was all too vivid. 

Once you had successfully gotten out of bed, you trudged around your apartment doing absolutely nothing. Nothing. Although you've calmed down from yesterday night, Dirk's words had really gotten to you and sure this was months ago, but now was the only time that it came back to haunt you. And now was the only time that you realized that your relationship had ended because of you and you only. 

You couldn't figure out an excuse for yourself. You must've been the worst boyfriend in the history of boyfriends. You huffed before plopping down on the couch in the living room and hugging a pillow tightly. You wished that the pillow was Dirk. 

You hoped there was some way to go back in time and reverse all the rubbish that happened. You expect that he won't want to get back together with you (though if he did you would be the happiest man on Earth) but you really just want forgiveness. Sadly, life wasn't all that easy, but you were determined to find a solution for you and Dirk. There _had_ to be a way. 

A way you were thinking that could work was talking it out.

You went about your apartment with your hands wringing the rim of your shirt. You were nervous. You mean, you could pester him and see whether he would respond, you could call him and try to talk it out... Well that didn't work too well the first time, did it? Gosh, sometimes you think you are one hell of an imbecile. There were more important things to think about but he's just been apparent in your thoughts for ages! And now in your dreams!

You pondered the subject for nearly half an hour before deciding that pestering is the best choice. 

You set the pillow to the side before walking over to the kitchen counter and picking up your phone. You unlocked your phone and went to the Pesterchum app before opening it up. Dirk's mood was set to rancorous and the guilt you felt from just a few hours ago returned. You quickly started the chat on a whim, knowing you wouldn't be able to back out once you started. 

"golgothasTerror started pestering timaesTestified at 13:04"

GT: So. I'm sure you don't wish to talk to me as of now, but I must tell you something. So before you block me, please be sure to atleast give a few of my messages a looksee? Thank you.

GT: Ok, I understand my behavior from two nights ago was childish and I know that you have a very valid reason for being angered at me. 

GT: However you have to understand that I'm really trying to fix all this malarkey!! 

GT: Look Dirk I'm truly sorry for what I did. 

GT: I realize the mistakes I made and the horrendous effect of my actions.

GT: I was an outright horrid boyfriend, yes I know. 

GT: But I miss you Dirk."

Your hands were trembling slightly as you typed the next message because you knew it was untrue.

"GT: I don't want a second chance at being your boyfriend. I just want to be your friend again. Please."

It was untrue because you wanted him back as your boyfriend again. Not just a friend, but something more than that. Because he was worth more than just friendship to you. He was worth love. You wanted Dirk back more than anything in the world. There was nothing more important to you than getting him back. You made the worst mistake you've ever made in your life and you couldn't stop the guilty feeling from spreading through you.

"GT: Dirk, please I really know I screwed this up. Please understand that this guilt is chewing me inside out! It feels like there’s a hole in my heart as cliché as it sounds and I think that you’re the only thing that can help to fill it.

GT: Devilfucking Dickens I apologize Strider. I really can’t make any excuses for myself but I’m sorry.

GT: I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." 

You felt your chest hurt for the second time at the sight of the next message.

"timaesTestified blocked golgothasTerror at 13:27"

You really think you should’ve suspected that, yet the pain was all the same.

You put down your phone and sighed before glancing over at the coffee table where there was a pile of books stacked high. You suppose you should return those books to the library. You ended up reading only a few of the many that you borrowed.

Your visits to the library increased drastically once Dirk broke up with you. It was a great distractor and helped you to get immersed in worlds and situations much better than your own. You liked reading in first person so it felt like _you_ were the one experiencing all the exhilarating adventures the author was describing. You remember when you thought of libraries as dusty, old rooms but your perspective has changed plenty once you’ve actually taken a little time to visit a few.

You picked up the books in both arms before snatching your keys and phone, stuffing them in your back pocket. You left the apartment and locked the door behind you before going to your car and dumping the books into the passenger’s seat. You started on your way to the library. Maybe this would help you to forget about Dirk.

*

You arrived at the library with books piled high in your arms. You could barely see ahead of yourself as the books were just above your line of sight. You got through the detectors at the entrance and remembered that the ‘Book Return’ box should be somewhere ahead of you. You didn’t realize what was directly in front of you until you crashed into someone. The books fell to the ground and you internally apologized to Charles Dickens and Harper Lee before turning around and apologizing profusely to the person you crashed into.

You were met with one of the most gorgeous ladies you’ve ever seen.

She had short yet beautiful, curly, dark brown hair, slender arms, and a small waist. She was wearing white glasses that were pointed at the ends, a light blue dress with a Scorpio symbol on it and a black band around her waist, and red flats. She was on the ground and you realized that you spent probably a few more seconds than needed staring at her. Your face reddened and you quickly offered your hand to her, apologizing over and over.

She took your hand before getting up and giggled the most adorable giggle. She smiled softly and spoke, “There’s no need to apologize, it was just an accident, and I forgive you.”

You nodded and chewed at your bottom lip before smiling. “You’re welcome! Err, should I say ‘thank you’? Would that be better? I suppose ‘Sorry’ could work just as well! Oh gosh, Dickens well I—uh…”

She laughed and you swear you’re already infatuated with this woman. “You’re quite the gentleman. And I believe you have no need to say anything. Here let me help you with your fallen books.”

You bent down and got most of your books together before standing up as she did the same. You put them in the ‘Book Return’ box and she followed.

You scratched the back of your neck as you spoke, looking down at the ground in nervous habit. “The name’s Jake English. As a formal introduction.”

She smiled sweetly and nodded. “Mine’s Aranea Serket. And it’s nice to meet you, Jake English. You seem like a very nice young man.”

You let out a breathy chuckle and held out your hand for her to shake. “And you seem like quite the lovely lady, ma’am.”

She shook your hand and you swore she held on just a few seconds too long before pulling it away. You think you saw a glimpse of a slight blush. Or maybe that was just a hallucination. You tended to have those quite a bit.

“It is really nice to get to meet you, Jake. I saw a few great titles in that cluster of books. I’m guessing you’re the one that keeps getting to the books before I can get a chance to even read the summary!”

You chuckled lightly before shrugging. “Well, I suppose it’s just because I’ve been recently reading more than ever. It’s not a bad thing, however. I’ve come across some really amazing ones. Have you read, uh… well darn what was the damn name…”

She laughed and used her hand to push a few strands of hair behind her ear. “You’re really interesting, Jake. I would love to get to know you a little more.”

You raised both your eyebrows before opening your mouth to respond. Nothing came out. “Uh…”

“Do you by any chance have a phone number?”

You nodded. “What about you?”

“Why, of course.”

You both exchanged phone numbers after a little bit of fumbling with your phone and struggling to get to the contacts. “Will I get to see you any time soon?” You asked, curious.

She hummed in thought and put her finger to her chin, gosh she was adorable. “How about we meet here? Same time, same place? Just make sure not to crash into anyone, Jake.” She giggled softly afterwards and you rolled your eyes before smiling.

“That would be great.” You replied in conclusion. Aranea waved to you in goodbye before smiling and turning around, going to the exit.

You smiled to yourself and looked down at your phone, the new contact entered in. Your smile widened and out of the corner of your eye, you could see librarians rolling their eyes and laughing softly at you. But you honestly didn’t care if you seemed as if you were a fool. Because well, you just got a girl’s phone number.

Maybe things weren’t going to be all that bad.

==>Be Dirk Strider

You were still peeved at Jake. No, peeved would never be able to generalize how annoyed and mad you were at Jake. You were angered. Exasperated. Furious. Jake was starting to really madden the hell out of you and you don’t think you’ve made any better decision in your life than to break up with him. You saw his messages and immediately blocked him. He deserved it, right? You weren’t neurotic. You weren’t controlling. He was saying those things to just get to you, right? Of course. Yes.

You weren’t overanalyzing this.

You didn’t care about your past relationship with him.

You didn’t.

Fuck it, you did.

You still cared deeply about this son of a bitch and it was horrible. Your feelings were like murky depths of this muddy sludge that you would never ever be able to turn into clear, understandable thoughts. You think your brother would be proud of the simile you just made.

Anyways, back to your feelings. You think it would be most logical to assume that you should start to try and decipher them. Maybe detect where your relationship went wrong. To do that you could make a diagram or a flow chart. Your mind revolved around mostly equations, formulas, diagrams, and logical pieces of evidence. You didn’t understand how your relationship went haywire. You did all you could and followed every rule, every guideline in the _How To Be A Decent-Ass Boyfriend Guide_. To you, it was Jake’s fault. Because it was. It was! It wasn’t yours. You made sure that you and he followed every step correctly. But somewhere along the way, one of you fucked up. Or both of you fucked up.

You paced around your room and tried to think of every possible outcome and solution that could’ve worked. But then you came to the conclusion that. Well, you and he didn’t come up with a solution. Your relationship failed and became just another one of your horribly executed communications.

You thought about it and lied around in your bed before starting to think about Jake. Not about the rules or steps or anything. You just thought about him. And everything about him that you knew.

Jake English: The kid that made you go through hell but made it fucking worth it (You mentally started a note)

\- Soft and nice hair that swooped up in the front

\- Goofiest yet most beautiful smile

\- Gentlemanly

\- Oblivious. As. Fuck.

\- Nice ass

\- The cutest adventurer

\- Creative and messy

\- Loves the hell out of every movie

\- ~~Adorable when flustered~~ Adorable all the time

\- Best accent

\- Voice starts getting higher in pitch when embarrassed

\- Voice cracks when nervous

\- Fumbles with fingers whenever shy

\- Chews at his bottom lip way too much but it’s cute so I approve

\- Sensitive at times

\- Loves to cuddle

\- An amazing cook

You started to lose track of what you were saying and started to only think about what you thought about him.

You realize that your list barely had anything negative on it. You scrunched up your eyebrows before shaking your head.

You know what?

Fuck all the formulas and metaphors and diagrams and whatever the fuck. Fuck all of the scientific shit and all the statistics. You only focused on what you felt about this guy. This dork that came into your life and fucked everything up, but you don’t care. Because Jake did less harm than good. The harm that he did to you was miniscule compared to the amazing impact he had on your life. You’ve been hanging onto this little fight. This little conflict and it has completely ruined you. You fucked up this whole thing. You broke the rules.

You never tried to put any love into the relationship. You just nagged at him and bothered him to follow what you wanted him to do. Although you never said anything about rules or guidelines you practically begged on your knees for attention. And this is what got you into this whole mess. Jake became so fed up with you that he ignored you. That’s why this wasn’t his fault. It was yours.

You ran your hands through your hair and it felt as if every exhale you let go of was a sigh. You really messed up.

You got up and went into the kitchen before sitting down in a chair beside the kitchen table. You checked your phone and scrolled through his messages, reading them all over and over again and trying to see if there was deeper meaning or if you just weren’t reading them correctly.

He missed you.

He said sorry.

God, he probably thought you were a complete and utter douche for blocking him! You groaned under your breath before contemplating a little more.

If he wanted to be forgiven and so did you, well. Things were going to work out for you, weren’t they? They were. Of course they were. You and Jake were going to be friends again, you two would be best friends and then maybe things could go back to the way they were.

You smiled to yourself and let out a small, breathy chuckle before full-out smiling. Teeth showing and everything. This was the first time you’ve smiled since your relationship with Jake. He was the only one that could get you to smile happily and truly.

Maybe things weren’t going to be all that bad.

 

…

 

…

 

…Too bad you always jumped to conclusions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. God. Damn. Sorry. I have a plot map set up until the 17th chapter and I really, really hope I can update quickly. God. It's been nearly two months. I am a horrible human being. Forgive me.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave makes a deal with Jack and gets hurt to protect John. John's invited to Terezi's party and Dave is still having problems keeping his feelings under control. In other words, Dave loves the shit out of John and would do anything for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm vacationing in Alaska and my plot map is at home so I'm sorry if I'm slow with updating oh dear. And this fanfic just out of nowhere got like two hundred more hits since the last update and just, wow. Thank you guys.

==>Be the other blonde one.

You are now Dave Strider. It's two days after John was being taunted at your lunch table and you were fed up with all of this shit. Over the course of two days, he had managed to get five more bruises on his chest and seven on his arms and legs. He would limp over to you at lunch and give you the most amazing smile to show he was doing okay. He would wince but quickly look up at you to make sure you didn't notice. But being a Strider, of course you did. 

You were going to put an end to all the shit he was going through. 

You decided in class that you were going to make a plan. You sat down on at your desk and twirled your pen between your fingers. The teacher was teaching what must have been the most interesting lesson in the world and being the attentive student he was, John sat at the front of his seat, listening to every word. His fingers tapped the wooden surface of the desk and he nodded his head every so often, as if holding onto each word the teacher spoke. His bangs swung to the side of his face and he chewed at his bottom lip in concentration. He would push his glasses up the bridge of his nose and do this thing where he just slightly brushed his finger against his nose.

You realize you've been staring at him for a little too long and quickly redirected your attention to the plan that was in progress. So far, you've figured out that you were going to find some way to piss off the people that beat John up. You were going to challenge them to strife with you after school. If they lost, they weren't allowed to place a finger on John nor were they allowed to talk to him. Also, they weren't allowed to mention a word about this to anyone. If you lost however. Well, they were allowed to embarrass you in front of the whole school and continue with their unfair beatings.

However, you were almost 100% sure that this plan was foolproof. Despite the small amount of bruises you could get, you knew you would be successful in teaching those guys a lesson or two about messing with Dave Strider's crush. Bro's strifing taught you how protect people and yourself, only now was it going to be coming in handy. 

*

Something you forgot to account for was that Jack had a mean left hook. 

When you had just gotten outside the school where you would meet Jack and his gang, the two people who had come with him shoved at your shoulders and pushed you to the ground. You quickly got up and, with outstanding agility that your brother had trained you to have, dodged your attackers' punches. You ducked and rolled, successfully only receiving a few bruises. 

Yet, Jack was behind you without you even knowing. 

Jack's fist collided with your face, you felt liquid trickling out of your nose and you touched it before clenching your fists when you caught sight of the crimson blood. Adrenaline pulsed through your veins as you flashstepped towards Jack and threw punch after punch. You pinned him to the wall by the shoulders and smirked almost devilishly. His eyes were widened in fear and you heard the other two guys muttering under their breath and scrambling up. They watched you, slowly stepping away.

"I think I win this one, Noir." You seethed.

He growled before spitting in your face. You didn't move an inch, only tightening your grip on his shoulders.

"You and your stupid gang of misfits can go fuck themselves and choose someone their own size to degrade and beat up, but if you lay one finger on John so help me God I will come after you."

His jaw clenched before he nodded in surrender. You let go of him and let him fall to the ground in a crumpled heap, you didn't care what you had to do as long as John was okay. The two others helped Jack to his feet, despite his protests and they left without another word. 

Your body ached and your legs felt like lead as you dragged them along the concrete walkways. The sun lit up the sidewalks and even with your sunglasses on, it felt as if they hurt your eyes. If you focused enough, you could see the heat waves emanating off houses. The temperature was at least a hundred and five degrees and you sweated immensely under your clothes. You walked the laborious three blocks to your apartment and after much struggle, got past all the stairs. 

You fumbled around in your jean pocket and pulled out the key to the apartment. As you unlocked the door you realized how bruised your pallid knuckles were. You only gave a small sigh before deciding you would bandage those up. You walked inside and quickly avoided your brother's door, knowing he would be pissed at you. You went to the bathroom and pulled out the first aid kit.

You cleaned out your cuts and bandaged your knuckles before taking off your aviators. Looking up and directing your gaze to the mirror, you realized how bad you were really beat up. A disgusting yellowish purple color lined your right eye and dried blood trailed down from under your nose to your mouth. After prodding at a few of the injuries, you realized that these were not going to be unnoticed. John was going to freak out when he saw this. You decided you would just come up with an excuse. Something like, a baseball hit your face or some shit. ...Well, what if you had concealer? 

You washed your face of the blood and put a patch on your nose. You went to the kitchen and opened the freezer, dodging the shurikens that flew out. You rummaged through the bottom compartment and got out an ice pack, pressing it gently against your eye. You carefully placed all the shurikens back where they were exactly and closed the fridge quietly so as to not alarm your brother. 

A small vibration as well as a sound came from your pocket, signifying a notification from pesterchum. 

"(2) New Message(s)"

Both Terezi and John messaged you, you couldn't help the slight twitch upwards of your lips. You loved talking to either one of them, but whenever John sent you one. Well, you got all doki doki and a fluttery feeling would come from your stomach. God, if your brother knew what you were feeling he would send you straight to the roof. Striders weren't supposed to feel this way. 

You opened up John's message first.

"ectoBiologist started pestering turntechGodhead at 15:48"

EB: hey dave! why weren't you at our normal spot after school?  
TG: had errands to do and shit  
TG: cant be late for shopping for doritos john  
TG: doritos take number one priority   
TG: dad someone stabbed me  
TG: son im afraid bandaging your wounds comes second on the to do list of importance  
TG: but dad im dying  
TG: hello dying im dad  
TG: ok maybe that wasnt the best situation to have but doritos take number one priority  
TG: anyways you get my drift  
EB: i can't believe i thought you were cool dave  
EB: you are such a dork  
TG: am not  
EB: looooooooser  
EB: anyways im going to terezis party!  
TG: what  
EB: yeah! she says its going to be a lot of fun" 

You paused. But, John. And. What.

"TG: dude you need to know that terezi can throw some sick nasty parties but i dont know if youre cut out for this  
EB: i so am!!  
TG: john im being legit here  
TG: have you even been to a party in your life  
EB: dave i can take care of myself  
EB: jeez youre not my dad or anything  
EB: come on you can check up on me at the party  
TG: im not your damn babysitter come on john  
TG: but whatever  
TG: fine  
TG: im not gonna stalk you or some shit"

You were going to regret this.

"TG: but youre still a delicate little flower petal john  
TG: straight from the nearest most goddamn beautiful garden  
EB: are you calling me beautiful? hahaha"

Yes.

"TG: no  
EG: alright well I gotta go, my dads baking another monstrosity ugh  
TG: k have fun with your betty crocker satan spawn or whatever the fuck

ectoBiologist ceased pestering turntechGodhead at 16:01"

Goddamn it. 

You knew John was going to be okay at Terezi's party, but you just didn't know if he was going to be completely. Stable. You weren't sure if he was easily susceptible to certain things. By things you meant alcohol, drugs, the whole lot. You mean, sure he was a good kid but was he going to be okay at a high school party? You guess you'll just have to moderate him the entire party. 

Not that you minded. 

"gallowsCalibrator started pestering turntechGodhead at 15:32

GC: D4V3  
GC: D4V3 STR1D3R.   
GC: M1ST3R TOT4LLY G4Y FOR DORKS."

Terezi could be the worst person at times. 

Terezi had accidentally broken a few of her keys after a conflict that she refused to tell you about. Apparently it included a dragon plush----or how she likes to call him: Mr. Lemonsnout----, rope, and her computer. She doesn't like to mention the incident that happened with her letter keys. Hence how she has to use 4, 3, and 1 to replace A, E, and I, she also broke the caps lock button, preventing her from ever going into lowercase. You wonder about her well being sometimes.

"TG: im pissed at you  
TG: miss totally wet for shouty mcshouts  
GC: GOOD ON3  
GC: 4ND NO YOU 4R3NT. YOUR3 JUST S4Y1NG TH4T  
TG: whatever   
TG: why the hell did you invite john  
GC: H3H3H3  
GC: L3TS JUST S4Y TH1S 1S ST4G3 ON3 OF M4NY 1N ORD3R TO G3T JOHN TO L1K3 YOU  
TG: youre insane  
GC: TH4NK YOU >:]" 

You would normally rant on about some weird shit but as of now, you needed to know what Terezi was going to do with John, so you stayed quiet. Sure, you trusted her with your life, but not your love life. 

"TG: what are you thinking   
GC: W3LL D4V3 TH1S 1S SOM3 TOP S3CR3T STUFF   
GC: 1 DONT KNOW 1F 1 C4N TRUST YOU  
TG: terezi  
TG: your plan involves me   
TG: i dont know about you but if a main player in this plan of yours were to refuse to cooperate im not sure how well it would work out   
GC: DONT YOU WORRY 4BOUT TH3 M3CH4N1CS OF TH1S D4V3  
GC: TH1S 1S GO1NG TO WORK OUT JUST F1N3 >:]  
TG: terezi im serious  
TG: this kid has all gone up and stolen my homo heart without even knowing now tell me what youre planning  
GC: 4WWWWWW D4V3!!!   
TG: what  
GC: YOU R34LLY L1K3 TH1S GUY DONT YOU  
GC: DONT YOU WORRY  
GC: 1M NOT PL4C1NG ON3 F1NG3R ON H1M  
TG: ...  
TG: are you drugging him  
GC: NO!  
TG: then what are you doing  
GC: NOTH1NG YOU N33D TO B3 CONC3RN3D W1TH  
TG: whatever  
TG: do your worst   
GC: H3H3

"gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 16:23"

You put away your phone and sighed, you had a bad feeling about this. 

*

As soon as you got up in the morning you texted Terezi, telling her you needed a bottle of concealer. She complied, giving it to you before school started. She raised an eyebrow at the bruise on your nose and questioned you mercilessly before you finally gave in and told her about the fight that had take place the day before. She simply awed at you and messed up your hair, telling you you were totally in love. What could you say, you really had a soft spot for cute dorks. 

Once school started, when you passed Jack and his gang in the halls, they only redirected their attention to some other person or object, rather than look at you. You smirked only slightly in response and gained confidence as you strided through the hallways. The school day passed relatively quickly and the same cycle happened in every one of your classes that you had with John, where he would intently listen to what the teacher was saying while you admired him from a seat away.

You've realized that John is absolutely adorable. 

Also that you are really falling for this little shit. 

*

After school, you and John started walking back to your apartment and as soon as you got inside and had set your backpacks down, John was smiling brightly and acting like a complete fool, plopping down on the futon and yawning almost cartoonishly. God he was cute. 

"Today was a good day" John said, contentedly. 

You raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? How so?" You asked, faking curiosity. You already knew the answer.

"Well, Jack didn't come to our table today, and the group of football players didn't push me around today." 

You sat down next to him and had just barely a sign of a smile. "Oh wow, that's great, man." 

"Yeah! They didn't even look at me! I guess things are really starting to lighten up."

"Well I'm glad for one, my middle finger was getting tired from all the flipping off I've been doing lately." 

John chuckled and rolled his eyes. "You know you're a complete dweeb."

You hummed softly in response, as if in thought. "Yeah, I don't think so. If anything you're the dweeb Egbert."

"Am not!"

"You watch horrible movies in your free time. You are the dweeb. It is you."

"I can't believe you're referencing your own webcomic." 

You raised an eyebrow, how did he know that that was from your webcomic? He never read it. Or so you thought. "What do you mean, how the hell would you know that?"

"Oh, well...I really wanted to see what your webcomic was all about. It seemed. Pretty good and stuff." He was nearly muttering near the end. 

Your heart warmed a little. "I called it, you are such a dweeb."

"Am not!" He playfully shoved at you and you shoved him back. 

"Do you want to play this game with me Egbert. Bring it the fuck on."

He grinned and shoved your shoulders. You responded by pushing him off the futon and he grabbed your foot, pulling you onto the ground. He was strong and not all too scrawny but you knew from the beginning you would prevail. You grabbed him along his chest multiple times and you ignored the small shivers that went up your spine when he tugged at your hair. The both of you were a mess of two bodies and tangled limbs. You two rolled around on the floor, both trying to get the upper hand. You managed to get on top of John and you smirked victoriously. 

"You only won because you're taller than me!"

"Nobody likes a sore loser, Egbert." 

He huffed and stuck his tongue out at you, chuckling afterwards. He giggled up at you and you were so close to him that you could feel his breath on your skin. You bit your lip to keep from shuddering and God, you wanted to kiss him. You wanted him so badly. Wouldn't the feel of his soft lips on yours make you go crazy? Or his breath on your neck as he kissed and nuzzled your neck? 

You realized the situation you were in and before you could even have the possibility of popping a boner in front of a friend---who must've only thought of you in a strictly platonic way----you quickly got up and went back to the futon, purposefully getting your backpack and setting it on your lap. 

He looked at you with his brows furrowed and leaned up on his elbows. He got up and walked over to you, squinting slightly. You were silently dying as John spoke no words and did something you didn't think he would do. He legitimately grabbed your nose. 

You winced and hissed in response, the injury from yesterday afternoon still healing, you smacked his hand. "Dude, what the fuck??"

He smudged and rubbed your nose as if he were putting sunscreen on you and the bruise was starting to hurt like a bitch. You cursed and pushed his hand away. "John. What the fuck are you doing?? Stop!" 

"Dave what happened to your face?!?" His eyes widened and his brows were furrowed, worry apparent in his face.

Fuck. He was wiping off the concealer. 

Some of it must've rubbed off while the two of you were wrestling and he rubbed off the rest just now..

You quickly took out your phone and looked at your face, the make up was smudged and the purplish bruise as well as the small cut on your nose were apparent on your face. 

You quickly came up with a response, putting away your phone. "Wow I'm offended Egbert, my face is always this glorious what are you even talking about?"

John groaned. "Dave, I'm serious! What happened to you??" 

"As I've mentioned beforehand Egbert, my face is always fabulous and I've no idea what you're talking about."

"Dave!! I'm serious, I'm going to give you a second black eye if you don't tell me!" John threatened.

"I just slipped up during a strife. It's nothing."

He frowned, obviously not believing you, and huffed before snatching your shades. You automatically closed your eyes, but you already knew you were in some deep shit. 

"Look, it's like I can't even see without my shades just give them back bro."

"You have a black eye too?! Dave what's going on! And you were perfectly fine at school the other day without your shades!" 

You sighed in response. You dug your own grave. "Okay, John. One thing at a time." 

He waited in silence, staring at you intently. You slowly opened your eyes. You stared at him with a small frown on your face. John's eyes widened and he gaped at your irises. "Wait, but. Your eyes are brown..?"

"A stupid condition runs in my family where we have these mutilated-ass eyes and the colors are from this disgusting-ass palette created by God who was like, 'Hey humans y'all want some dandy ass eye colors but hey let's only give 'em to a few select people like this tiny little cool kid named Dave. I've created the most perfect human being oh wait shit I'm giving him bloody eyes so that no one will ever like him ha. Ha. Ha.' But I'll have you know that God, there's a fuckin' plot twist up in this bitch and I have itchy-ass colored contacts and aviators so fuck off man." You took a deep breath after your rant and crossed your arms, looking over at John. 

Apparently he wasn't at all disturbed by your random spurt of words and instead was awed by your eyes. He had an amused grin plastered on his face and handed you your shades back. "So the eyes are genetic? And you covered it up by wearing brown eye contacts?"

"Wow, it's great you're finally catching on Egbert."

He rolled his eyes. "Well anyways, I, for one am not scared off by your eyes, Dave. I think they're really cool!"

You scoffed and put your aviators on. "Uh huh yeah, well anyways let's just finish that project. We're presenting in a few days." He followed you to your computer and you worked on the project for the rest of the day.

You were just glad he didn't ask you about your injuries again. 

 

 

 

 

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My work is at times reviewed by CrazyBookGirl and I'm given advice by her sometimes so please go and check her fanfics out! ALSO, I'm more likely to update quickly if I'm given feedback. I love comments and I'll make sure to respond to all of them, they're very much appreciated.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake is distracted by Aranea's appearance all too much and can't help but be infatuated with her. He convinces himself that he must not be in love with a certain someone anymore. Right?

==>Be the nervous buffoon.

Not now, you're in the past, you're on your way to your library date with Aranea. (Okay, maybe not a date. A meet up. But you'll still call it a date.)

You walked through the automatic sliding doors of the public library and you sighed happily, elated that Aranea agreed to meet with you in the library once again. This was a great distraction for you and provided you with newfound hope! Maybe if you got along well with Aranea you could go on a few more dates and maybe you could get together more often. You even had new hope that maybe the two of you could become a thing! Boyfriend and girlfriend maybe. You were really looking forward to this. This was a great step away from your pesky troubles with the older Strider. 

Your thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Aranea's voice reaching you as she walked over to you, moving past all the check out counters and desks, and waved. 

"Hi Jake! How are you?" Aranea greeted you warmly.

"I'm well, thank you love. And what about you?"

"I'm also doing well thank you. I've saved a spot for you, come on." She smiled at you over her shoulder and... wow. She has a dazzling smile. And dazzling eyes. And cheekbones. And glasses. 

She's. Really. Attractive. 

She led you to one of those tables that you can rarely see anywhere other than a library and a doctors office most of the time and you pulled out a chair for Aranea and smiled at her before pulling out your own chair and sitting down. The minute you did so, Aranea started to speak, her voice a little too loud to be suitable for a library. She was talking about something along the lines of how her day was and what she had for lunch and breakfast. 

You realize that you really enjoy the sound of Aranea's voice. You've also discovered that she really likes to talk---even though she was shushed by librarians and other people on more than one occasion---and those are two things that go really well together, almost as well as you and Aranea fit together!

"That's amazing! You're originally from Australia but you moved to London? And now you moved to Texas? That's fascinating. The immense number of cultural differences amazes me." She had been talking for 20 minutes already but you still loved listening to her. You think you could listen to her all day everyday for ages. 

"Oh uh huh.... of course. Culture is something I like a lot." Always full of intelligent responses, you.

Good thing Aranea completely disregarded that and continued on. "Goodness, I've always been fascinated by accents. You know that back in the day long, long ago there was history about accents and lots of research done on them whenever people wondered about the origins of the British and many other native English..."

She talked on and on during the course of your library "date". You had your chin resting in your hand and you nodded along to every word or so that came out of Aranea's mouth. 

God, she was beautiful. 

"That reminds me! I once paid a visit to a friend in England. She took me to all sorts of places, book stores, parks, cafés, they were all wonderful places. Goodness, but the best part about the trip were the museums! I spent nearly all day brushing up on my history and learning lots of new things about the perspective of a lot of world events. The sheer amount of things you can learn about a nation! There's just so much to learn and not enough time, don't you think?"

"Oh, uh yeah." To be honest, you weren't necessarily listening to her talk but you liked her voice all the same! So. It kinda counted. Right? 

"Gosh, that was one of the greatest international visits I had ever gone on. England is truly amazing and it wows me all the same that there are just vast amounts of places and people I can learn about! Oh I read a philosophical book the other day and it mentioned many, many things about all sorts of morals in life and how there's an undiscovered meaning in our lives where there's just not enough time for a lot of what we wish to achieve in life and this really changed my opinions on our current society considering there are just so many things that I would love to do! Also, I would like to achieve so much in my..." You were smiling dumbly and nodding along, awkwardly sitting in your seat as she went on. 

Just then, Aranea's phone received a notification and made a small vibration throughout the table. She quickly picked it up as if she was expecting it. But being the oblivious fellow you were, you paid no attention to it and patiently waited for Aranea to return to your conversation. Her slender thumbs raced across the keyboard as she typed messages. She sneezed adorably tucked a small strand of hair behind her ear.

You thought that was really cute. 

She's really cute.

She took about three and a half minutes of typing back and forth with this mystery person, on her face was a small....

Smile.

But not just any smile. 

You think you recognized that smile, you didn't know where exactly you've seen it before. You feel like you've worn that smile but you couldn't place your finger on what type of smile it was. 

By type, you meant that there are multiple types. Such as how there's a certain fake smile you would wear at a place you wish you weren't at, or how there's a genuine smile you would wear if you had met a new friend or after a nice vacation. The smile Aranea was wearing was definitely one you were familiar with, but the answer was just at the tip of your tongue. You couldn't remember where you had seen a smile like that, she would bite her bottom lip first and then be extremely pleased, the smile appearing and disappearing on her face as she typed.

You were brought out of your thoughts as Aranea put her phone away and apologized to you for the inconvenience. You forgave her and she almost immediately continued with the conversation as if there was no interruption.

"...took another class at this wonderful little summer camp. It was great, how much you would learn in just a few---"

You interrupted her. "Uhm, Aranea, sorry to cut your little response short, but... Uh, I'm sorry if I'm poking my nose into your personal life, but who was that? The person you were texting?"

"Oh, it's no problem, Jake! And"---You thought you could see a hint of a blush on her face as she continued---"you know how I told you about Meenah, my close friend? That was her."

You must've just been suspecting some silly rubbish! Her smile was just a fond smile you would wear talking to best friends! Of course! She must have just been talking about some happy moment in the past to have a smile like that. 

"Pardon my interruption, you can continue." You smiled and motioned for her to continue, resting your chin on your palm and listening to her talk for the rest of your library "date".

You really, really think Aranea is gorgeous.

She is. So. So beautiful. 

==>NOW. Be the nervous buffoon. NOW. 

You are now the nervous buffoon, more specifically, Jake English. 

After two weeks of nervous fidgeting and hesitation you still had not gotten up the nerve to text Aranea. Of course you had gone to your meeting with her at the library after the day you had met her, and gosh you learned lots about this fascinating young girl. She was a lovely nineteen years of age and she absolutely adored learning and reading, she was born in a family of four with a younger sister named Vriska. Apparently she spends quite a bit of her time with a close friend named Meenah, the one she had been texting. You thought it was just a little rude of her to be texting while talking with you but you paid it no mind. Aranea was quite the gal, you could excuse some little malarkey such as this. 

Aranea was the sweetest, most beautiful girl you had ever seen! Yet you still haven't texted her since that wonderful day. You're such a coward at times!

Bollocks, you've been staring at your phone for ages! It was a bright, late October day and you were spending it in silence in your apartment, staring at Aranea's contact. Her words have just been going through your head over and over again.

Before you could think through what you were doing, you quickly typed a message to her and sent it. You wanted to make sure you wouldn't back out like a coward last minute. 

"Jake: Hello Aranea! Uh, this is Jake English. From the library? I'm dreadfully sorry for the lateness of this message, I've been quite the busy lad. How have you been?"

You got a reply barely a minute later.

"Aranea: Oh that's alright Jake! And I'm doing fairly well, what about you?"

You gnawed at your bottom lip and hummed softly in thought.· 

"Jake: I'm well, thank you!· And I have a little more free time and I really enjoyed spending my time with you. You're a very lovely young lady so...  
Jake: I was wondering if..."

You trailed off for about twenty seconds, nervous to type the next message.

"Aranea: If?"

You quickly typed your text before you could think to do anything else.

"Jake: If you would fancy a date. With me."

You nervously waited for her response, absentmindedly shaking your leg as you started at your phone. 

It took a few minutes---as if Aranea was thinking about it, but you paid no attention---but a small ring finally came from your phone and a smile made its way onto your face as you read the next message.

"Aranea: I think that would be very pleasant, Jake. Do you have any plans for dinner or where we should go?"

You didn't think you would get this far.

"Jake: Oh well, uh..."

Think, Jake. Think.

"Jake: Is there anywhere you would like to go?"

And the day is saved!

"Aranea: There's this wonderful little cafe my friend Meenah works at! Can we go there? I'll give you the address.  
Jake: Of course! What time would you like to meet?  
Aranea: I suppose tomorrow at noon should be good?  
Jake: Alright I'll see you then!"

(You noted that she sure mentions this girl named Meenah quite a lot. You can't wait to meet her, maybe you could learn more about Aranea!)

She proceeded to provide you with the address to the cafe and you felt a warm, fluffy feeling spread through you. It was so nice to have someone new in your life. Especially someone with a voice so soothing and looks that could make you feel like the luckiest man on this planet. 

*

You scrolled through past conversations with Dirk, your heart aching in the best way possible. 

"TT: I can't actually believe that you spend real time on your movies. They're all basically pieces of shit English.  
GT: You obviously cannot detect wonderful pieces of cinema even with that smart, robot brain of yours Strider!  
TT: Oh please. I'm blushing.   
GT: I can sense your sarcasm through the computer  
TT: What, that's preposterous.  
TT: How could I ever be sarcastic to one as cute as you  
GT: Dirk, remember when we agreed that you would stop with all these cheesy lines?  
TT: I recall no such thing. And it's not cheesy. It's true."

Your heart still fluttered and it took nearly all of your well being to convince yourself it was because you must've eaten something quite rotten.

You scrolled down to another conversation and you had a small, inner debate before deciding to retread the conversation.

You remember it vividly, even without your phone in hand.

This was going to be a mistake, but you started reading anyways.

"TT: Hey English I have something to say to you  
GT: Go on ahead Strider!  
GT: You know you don't necessarily have to ask me if you would like to tell me something?  
TT: Yeah yeah shut your trap this is important English.  
GT: Is that any way to treat your boyfriend of sixteen months?  
TT: Come on English do me this one solid and keep those lips together.   
GT: ....  
TT: Perfect.  
TT: Anyways, you know how I was pining after you for a good amount of time before I finally got all my shit together and decided to just ask you out?  
GT: Yes?  
TT: Yeah well I think I have something to tell you.  
GT: Go on.  
TT: Jacob English.   
TT: I like you a fuckton.  
TT: Single words cannot contain how much I like you  
TT: Fake, made-up metric units like fuckton cannot describe how much I like you.  
TT: There has not been a day since I met you that has not have involved me thinking about you.  
TT: Whether it be your adorable personality or your inability to detect decent movies or that ass of yours.  
TT: You have always been in my mind and..  
GT: Dirk? What are you saying?  
TT: Just, this is hard for me to type just wait English.  
TT: I don't know what I would do without you, okay?  
TT: You're like my lifeline or this life preserver that keeps me afloat because God  
TT: Jake English.   
TT: You mean so much to me   
TT: And I know this loses meaning because I'm being a dick and typing this up through pesterchum and I should be talking to you in real life but Jesus fuck   
TT: I'm basically losing my cool here. All my coherent syntax has just gone down the drain.  
TT: ...You don't know what you do to me Jake.  
TT: And...  
GT: Dirk what are you trying to.. Say?  
TT: I love you, Jake."

You knew this was a mistake. Your heart twisted and despite the amount of sadness in you, tears didn't fall. You had convinced yourself you were completely over this guy! And, you were searching through your conversations with him so you could delete them! Not because of memories!! U-Uh, you wanted to delete them! That's why! A-And...

You have no idea why and he had not provided you with any sort of explanation for blocking you, but...

...

You know what?

You were over him. You were confident that you could live on and your life has already gotten better. You've met a lovely young lady by the name of Aranea and you had no need for Dirk anymore. You don't have any idea why you were so hung up on him! He was most definitely not worth all the heartache you had gone through. You were sure that the both of you have moved on to better things and people.

You were happy with what you had now. 

Right?

Of course. 

You like another person now.

You didn't still think of him. 

He wasn't present in your thoughts.

Nor did you miss his presence.

Of course not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness, this got like, another hundred hits after the last update and THANK YOU GUYS!!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi has a plan for Dave that doesn't. Really. Work. Out.

==>Be the nervous, red-eyed boy.

You are now Dave Strider. And Dave Strider is anything but nervous. It's like that word isn't even in your vernacular. Nervous? Never even heard of the word. Definition please.

You're calm, cool, and collected.

Like a penguin.

Like ice.

So cool.

Not nervous.

Nope. Not one tiny little bit.

…

Okay maybe a little bit.

…

Okay maybe more than a little.

...

You had a right to be nervous, okay?

Before you had even known it, three weeks had passed and Terezi's party was upon you. It took you three hours, five outfits, and two showers to finally decide that you were going to wear a grey shirt with the Coca Cola logo on the front, black skinny jeans that hugged your legs, red converse, and a black leather jacket. Your hair was perfectly in order and your shades rested on the bridge of your nose. You were ready for tonight. Or as ready as you could ever be.

It was just the beginning of November and the trees were all starting to change colors. The leaves turning from a natural, forest green, to an array of reds, yellows, and browns. The weather was starting to lighten up (Thank god. You didn't think you would be able to handle all this humid heat) and the night was just starting to settle in. Terezi's party was starting in just about half an hour and you are currently knocking on your brother's door, shouting.

"YO. BRO I NEED A RIDE TO TEREZI'S PARTY" You knocked loudly and you heard the muffled music coming from the inside of the room.

Dirk came out with his headphones around his neck and stared you down, snapping at you. "Don't fucking disturb me when I'm working. When has that rule ever fucking changed?"

You remained stoic albeit the chill going down your spine. "I've abided by that rule since I was like what? Ten? It's about time I broke it. You gonna take me to Terezi's or what."

He carded a hand through his hair and sighed through his nose before muttering. "Fine. Ten minutes. But I’m your ride to basically any party anywhere so if I hear another complaint coming from you this whole night I’m strifin’ your ass.”

You smirked, making your way outside with your phone in your back pocket, taking in the almost night sky. The pale and golden yellows and oranges were slowly disappearing into the dark blue that was above you. The moon was just coming out and about to shower your city of Houston in dim light. You made your way down to your brother's car and waited for him. It didn't take long before you and he were buckled in and on your way to Terezi's house. Despite your worrying, you think that if John was kept away from all the different sorts of susceptible things, he and you could have a good time.

*

Being the lovely brother that your bro is, he proceeded to tell you to ‘not get too high’---even though you’ve never done drugs in your life---and followed that with his thoughts on how high school students were easily susceptible to whatever the fuck. You simply nodded your head every so often and pulled at the car door lock, internally groaning at how responsible your bro had to be. Sure, he was a nice brother but you could handle yourself. You were responsible! You knew what the fuck you were doing. You’re a Strider. No one can get your guard down.

When Dirk had finally finished talking, he unlocked the car door and told you to have a good time. He started the engine again almost as soon as you shut the door behind you, and starting driving away.

You walked to the front doors with your hands in your front jean pockets, walking purposefully and with a hell of a lot of cool nerves. You stood in front of the door and contemplated before nodding to yourself and telling yourself that you were 100% sure that. That John was straight. And that he couldn’t possibly like you as much as you like him. And that you didn’t have a chance with him,

Because…

No. You weren’t going to have these thoughts. Not right now, those are saved for another time. For now, you’re going to go to Terezi’s party and you were going to have fun. End of story.

You knew that as soon as you pressed the handle of the door down and walked inside, everyone was staring at you. It hadn’t gone silent but you could feel everyone’s eyes burning into the back of your skull. Maybe it was because you looked like hot stuff with your looks and perfectly cool exterior. Or maybe it was the fact your nose was still bruised and news had spread quickly that you had fought with John’s attackers. But rumors started to spread yet again about the reason why.

People said that you did it because you, the infamous cool guy, decided to make him your slut or some shit. And some others got it perfectly right with the assumption that you did it to protect John. But you, as always, ignored the rumors and filed those thoughts into the folder of: Things Cool Kids Don’t Fucking Think About.

You didn’t let the staring phase you however, and continued to walk across Terezi’s home until you reached her living room.

Her living room was. To say the least, surprisingly normal.

Despite the detailed (and probably very expensive) dragon paintings on the walls, framed in cherry wood, hanging over the fire place. And despite the several spots on the beige wall where there were blotches of slightly different colored paint. (From whenever Terezi used to draw on the walls and her parents tried to frantically buy the same color paint but eventually gave up) Her living room was fairly normal. Couches lined the room, an intricate carpet laid on the floor, and a modern looking coffee table sat in the center of it all.

People you knew only slightly from brief introductions---Tavros, Karkat, Sollux, Aradia, and Nepeta---were sitting on the couches and a very apparent empty spot was next to John. He beamed at you his so very adorable smile and waved before patting the spot next to him. As you walked over, Terezi tugged at your arm and whispered in your ear, grinning like a madman.

“You know he refused to let anyone sit next to him. Just so that you could sit there.”

You simply scoffed and murmured a “fuck off” into Terezi’s ear and sat down next to John.

You refused to let your slight blush show on your face.

You were a fucking badass.

Terezi smiled and hopped up once you had been seated and put her hands on her hips. “Since I am the one hosting this very awesome party, I think I’ll go get everyone their drinks! I’ll start with you two.” She pointed (almost) in yours and John’s direction. “Whadya guys want?”

You raised an eyebrow questioningly at Terezi’s burst of kindness and got up before responding. “I can go get the drinks with you, it’s not that big of a deal Rez.”

“No! No you can’t do that! I mean, uh… Sollux totally has something to show you it’s something really, really cool I’m sure your stupid self would just looove to see it.” Terezi replied to your statement quite quickly with a smirk on her face and rushed into the kitchen to get you some drinks.

“Terezthi I stho do not have anything to sthow Dave. I have legitimately no fucking idea whath the hell to shthow him!”

You raised an eyebrow but simply shrugged and waved it off, sitting back down next to John. He almost immediately started up a conversation.

“Hey, that was weird huh?” He nudged you with his elbow lightly and you nodded in reply.

“Yeah, I dunno what’s all up in Terezi’s grill right now. Maybe she’s all hot and bothered, John. Haven’t you thought about that? Have some respect for a girl’s sexual life Egbert.”

He laughed and shoved you playfully. “You are so gross Dave! You can be extremely weird sometimes.”

“Says the dork who has like ten million ghostbusters posters.”

“I only have five!” He huffed and crossed his arms, refusing to look at you in fake anger.

You simple chuckled and were about to go on a long ramble about how John needed to loosen up until you felt a tap on your shoulder. You turned around and the one and only Terezi Pyrope was there, shoving two drinks in your face.

“Come on, I paid good money for your sparkling apple whatever. It’s that one thing that you like, I forgot what it was called. But drink up, coolkid.” Terezi nudged you with the drink, the yellow liquid sloshing around inside the red party cup.

You sighed and took it, taking a sip and watching behind your shades as Terezi handed the other party cup to John.

Whoa.

Well this didn’t taste half bad.

It reminded you faintly of apple juice and it had the carbonated feel to it but there was something else there you just couldn’t place your finger on.

It wasn’t like it mattered though, it tasted good and that’s all that you needed.

You took another sip and out of the corner of your eye, you saw Terezi grin a little. “How’s it taste?”

“Tastes like the shit, Pyrope. Damn you’ll need to write down the brand or some shit because I ain’t gonna lie, I praise you Rez. This tastes damn fine. Finer than fine wine on a vineyard where a woman in all white and a dashing man in a black tuxedo are macking on each other because it’s their wedding night and fuck all the people who don’t like wine because damn these mashed up grape guts are the shit.”

John was laughing beside you, sipping at his coke and rolling his eyes. “You’re an idiot, you know?”

You took another sip.

“Egbert you gotta try this shit I swear.” You shoved the drink in his direction and shook your hand a little. He simply pushed back your hand and shot you his look of amusement.

“I’m good, Dave.” He laughed softly and set his drink down while you tipped your drink upwards and drank the rest of it.

Terezi leaned in and snatched the cup out of your hands, you narrowed your eyes up at her and she simply giggled. “Come on Dave don’t be like that I’m getting you more of this.” She shook the cup slightly to point out what “this” was, and left for the kitchen while you were left with John.

You looked over at him and started tracing random patterns on the leather beneath your fingertips. “Yo Egbert you know I can never understand why you don’t like how your dad bakes cakes and shit”

“It’s not how he makes the cakes, it’s just. That foul, awful Betty Crocker stuff he uses! It’s all gross dude! And they’re all just monstrosities.”

“Now Egbert slow down a little. Calm your shit bro. Cake is the fucking shit.” Just as you finished speaking, Terezi came over to you with the party cup filled with that same brand of sparkling apple, something?

You took a big gulp and let out a contented sigh. Maybe this party wasn’t going to be so bad, you could just talk with John and Terezi and your acquaintances. What were you even worried about? You and John were going to be just fine.

It was too bad that you missed the look Terezi gave all of her friends when you were chugging down your second drink of the night. You simply waved at Terezi with a nudge of your party cup.

Damn, this stuff was good.

You continued to make conversation with John and ramble about the art of making your webcomic and how the neon letters in awful font accentuate the irony of it all. John apparently still did not get it.

You shrugged. “Seems like you don’t--” You hiccupped. “Y’don’t understand fine ass comedy Egbutt.”

He raised an eyebrow at you and chuckled softly. “Dave are you okay? Your accent is slipping a little.”

You shrugged your shoulders and took another large gulp of your drink.

Sooner or later, you had drunken 5 full cups of that wonderful apple miracle shit and a light and warm feeling was present in your tummy. You were so happy and so elated. You loved having John right there next to you, you loved having him so close and making dumb small conversation with you because damn it he was amazing. You were so very happy.

John made the worst joke in all of joke history just then. “Hey guys! Wanna hear a cool joke I heard the other day? Okay, okay so…”

You don’t think you heard all of the joke, but you didn’t need to.

You were laughing your ass off for no reason.

You didn’t understand the ecstasy you were having but you just kept laughing and laughing.

And.

Laughing.

You honestly didn’t care about the weird looks people were giving you because eventually, people joined in your laughter and soon all of your friends were laughing along with you. Err, maybe at you. You weren’t sure.

Your body was filled with this happy and warm and fuzzy feeling you didn’t know why you had, but you just kept laughing.

Your eyes were brimming with tears and it hurt to breathe once you actually took a deep breath after your laughing fit. You sighed happily and grinned before taking another sip of your drink and getting up.

“I think I’m gonna… go take a piss.” You set your drink down and practically stumbled out of the room into the bathroom. You missed the knowing grin on Terezi’s face as you left.

~~~

“He isth stho drunk.”

“What did you do Terezi? He was puurrrfectly fine when he came here!”

“He w-was laughing like crazy Pyrope. W-What on Earth did you do?”

“Hehehe, let’s just say I’ve been slipping more and more alcohol into his amazing apple drink every time I refilled it.” You grinned and laughed, this was gonna be so good.

Dave was drunk off his ass!

This was going to be perfect.

~~~

You went back into the room and took your spot on the couch once again, nabbing your drink off of the table and sipping from it. Everything in your mind was fuzzy and you didn’t really know what you were thinking when you set down your drink and looked over at John.

Over the past couple of weeks you’ve talked to him on pesterchum and been over to his house many, many times. And as time continued on you realized that wow.

John was…

John was handsome.

He was downright gorgeous and you couldn’t believe you fell for a guy with hair that looks like a bird nest and with an overbite so very dorky and with the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen.

He was amazing. He was so smart. So beautiful.

Your eyes trailed down his face and you ignored the fact that he was looking at you just a bit sheepishly when he realized your obvious staring.

But you didn’t care.

He was so pretty. His eyes are so, so pretty. His nose is straight and slightly rounded at the end and it’s so cute. His pale cheeks looked so soft and free of acne and blemishes.

He was so, so beautiful.

Your eyes went down slightly further and you looked at his lips.

They were so pretty when he bit down on them. You wonder what it would like if you bit down on them.

….

You wonder what sounds he would make if you did that.

You wonder how that Pepsi he was drinking would taste on your lips.

….

….

You wonder how he would taste on your lips.

You didn’t realize you were leaning in until your lips were crashing into his and it felt like a new, foreign feeling was fluttering through you. It was like shock and lightning but it was so soft and warm and that feeling filled you. His mouth tasted like Pepsi but there was an essence of.

Just.

 _John_.

Your hands were around his neck, pulling him closer as your lips attacked his mouth. He tasted so good, you wanted more. You wanted more of him and god, you’ve wanted this for so long. You wanted his lips on yours. They were just as soft as you’d imagined. They were so warm and delicate and you wanted to treasure him and give him pleasure. You wanted him under you panting and moaning your name, you needed him to do that. God, you love this boy. You love him. You’ve fallen hard on the cold ground and finally you’re getting what you’ve wanted for so, so long. You’ve earned this. You’ve had to deal with everyone’s shit but you didn’t care because. Because John was here.

In your drunken state, you didn’t realize that people were watching.

Or that John was in a state of shock.

Or that he wasn’t kissing you back.

Apparently, he had finally registered what was happened after about 10 seconds of you macking on him and he pushed you away forcefully. You fell on the ground and looked up at him, hurt. 

It took you three seconds to realize what you did.

He wiped the saliva on his lips on the back of his hand and looked at it as if he was disgusted. He looked at you with eyes narrowed and eyebrows knit. His face was flushed with probably anger or embarrassment or both and he left the room. People stared at you and you felt horrible. Awful. 

It took two seconds to become ashamed of yourself.

You heard the door slam.

 

 

 

It took less than a second for your heart to shatter into pieces. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, this got almost 200 more hits since the last time I updated and I just want to thank you guys! Remember that if I get comments and feedback, the more likely I'll update faster. Thanks for reading guys!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake goes on his date with Aranea which turns out to be just a little awkward.  
> And Dirk is kinda. Eh.

=>Be the waiting gentleman 

You are now Jake English. You are seated in a cherry wood chair and your fingers are drumming along the plaid red table covers while your foot is tapping the hardwood floor of the café you agreed to meet Aranea in. You have glanced around the restaurant more times than you can count.

You check your phone for possibly the thirtieth time that evening and yep.

Aranea was late. 

She was very late. 

By 32 minutes to be exact. 

You’re not sure if she stood you up or if you were just being a foolish lad by brushing off the waiter’s worries and constantly reiterating that “She’ll be here any minute.” and that “She must have just gotten stuck in traffic.”, despite the empty roads outside. 

You sigh and rest your chin in your hand, shaking your foot incessantly as you start scrolling through your phone. You look through your contacts and your eyes land on Dirk’s name. You think to yourself and you can’t help the odd feeling inside of you. You suppose that you could text him, right? You mean, you were already dating another gal, this shouldn’t be too hard should it? 

Right.

Of course! 

He has just recently unblocked you from pesterchum a few days ago so that obviously meant he still wanted to talk to you right? You could apologize and declare that the both of you move on, that would be better for the both of you! Of course.

Yes, of course. 

golgothasTerror[GT] began pestering timaeusTestified[TT] at 13:39

GT: Good afternoon Strider! I hope things have been going well for you with all those robotic shenanigans and whatnot. I was pondering a bit and well I suppose we can just. Uh, forget about the whole blocking and unblocking thing. I assume I was being quite the annoyance so pardon me Strider!  
GT: But I uh, I wanted to talk about something? Hopefully you’re in the same boat as I am!  
GT: I was thinking a bit and I thought that it would be absolutely chipper if either one of us would.  
GT: Uhm.  
GT: Move on?  
GT: I do believe that it would be better for the both of us in the long run! This predicament has been going on for much too long! I truly miss you being there as my best pal and I’ve found this lovely young woman. We’re actually having a date right now!  
GT: I mean.  
GT: Oh goodness well not really.  
GT: I mean, she’s not here yet. But technically the date’s already started! I uhm  
TT: Jake English do you mean to tell me you just got stood up.  
GT: Oh well I’m sure she’s going to show up at any time now! She’s probably just caught up in traffic old chap, I assure you she hasn’t exactly stood me up!  
TT: Uh huh.  
TT: Well how long has it been since your date “began” ?  
GT: That’s none of your business!  
TT: Well, being your just recently reclaimed best pal I assume it’s my duty to know what’s going on with your love life.  
GT: Oh confound it Strider! Shut your trap. And.  
GT: You’re really my best friend again?  


Did Dirk want to be your friend again? Gosh, after all of the bickering and childish mocking and fights, you sure hope he would at least be your acquaintance. Even if that does make your stomach drop. You’re not sure why.  


GT: You…  
GT: Want to be my best friend again?  


His reply was taking an absurd amount of time. Was he typing a large message? Your phone has automatically turned down its brightness and you tap the screen to keep the app running.  


Come on, come on, come on…  


TT: I suppose we can try out friendship again.  


Wait.  


…It was that easy?  


Gosh, you weren’t going to disagree with him, but you thought… maybe this wouldn’t work out. Just as the other attempts have not.  


GT: That’s great, Dirk! I’m  
GT: Awfully sorry about before.  
TT: English, it’s fine. I’ve conversed with AR about this, even he’s told me this predicament was approximately 72.08% my fault. There’s no need to be sorry.  
TT: We weren’t really meant to be together.  
You let out a deep sigh not in relief, but in… sadness? No of course not! You’re the one that proposed this idea and you shouldn’t still feel this way after month of turbulent conversations with Dirk! This isn’t supposed to happen, you’re supposed to feel free and elated that a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. But at the sight of that message, you decide that this feeling is temporary and it’s for the best if you would just let go.  
TT: And as much as that hurts my cold, metallic heart, I understand. Our personalities collide and it just wouldn’t work out. No matter how much we might have put into our relationship.  
GT: You must’ve thought about this quite a bit Strider! Golly, well I’m glad you understand.  
You look out the door and see the familiar white hybrid. Aranea’s here!  
GT: And pardon me but I absolutely must get going. I do believe that’s Aranea’s car out there.  
TT: So the mystery girl’s name is Aranea.  
TT: Sounds cute.  
GT: I am scoffing right now.  
GT: Scoffing!  
TT: So she isn’t cute?  
GT: No! Nothing like that!!  
GT: She is positively adorable Strider.  
TT: Mhm.  
GT: Oh goodness, she’s coming. I’ll talk to you later Strider. It’s great to be your friend again.  


golgothasTerror[GT] ceased pestering timaeusTestified[TT] at 13:47

A bittersweet feeling filled you but you pushed it down in hopes of getting to see Aranea again. You stood up, pushing your seat in, before going over to the entrance of the café and pulling out the best smile you could muster. 

You were frozen in your tracks as your gaze rested on Aranea.

She was so beautiful. Mesmerizing even! 

She had a flowing navy blue dress that went down to her knees, shined, black flats, her hair was curled and waving in the slight breeze, and her soft lips were lined in a pale pink. 

In other words…

She was drop dead gorgeous. 

As she walked towards you, a light and happy feeling went through you. But you couldn’t help but think that this was… different from when you saw Dirk. 

This feeling was delightful when you saw Aranea of course, but the fluttering in your chest that you used to feel with Dirk wasn’t. There? When you saw the young lad, your insides would twist, your heart would beat ten times faster, and it felt like you were falling in love over and over again. 

But with Aranea it was different. She’s amazing, beautiful, and downright intelligent but... You felt an attraction to her physically. 

Only physically. 

Nothing more. 

And you didn’t realize that until now. 

But all those thoughts slipped your mind as you held out your hand and intertwined your fingers with Aranea’s. She apologized, saying she wasn’t watching the clock as she worked. You forgave her with a smile and as the two of you made your way inside and sat down at your original table, Meenah looked as if she was waiting for Aranea to come. 

Meenah rushed out of the kitchen with her two long braids put up into a hairnet, her apron flapping about as he practically pushed another waitress away to take your guys’ orders. 

Aranea giggled and didn’t even have to glance at the menu before he was reciting was she was going to have for the evening. 

Meenah smiled fully, her… unnaturally sharp teeth peeking through, as she took down her order. “Alright, the combo number 2 for you, darlin’.

But it seemed as though as soon as she turned towards you, she was practically snarling behind her teeth. She put up a plastic smile and as you shakily recited your order. She took it down and looked over at Aranea with an eyebrow raised. 

“…Your orders should be out in a sec, kid.” She stated coldly without even managing a glance in your direction, yet you knew that was for you. 

Aranea looked over at you sympathetically after Meenah had went back into the kitchen. “Oh Meenah can be a little, odd at times. But there’s no need to worry! She’s just not used to me dating.” Aranea’s thumb traced over your knuckles and you couldn’t help the twitch in your fingers. 

“…Not used to you dating?” 

“Oh! Excuse me, I do believe I should provide you with some... background information. I apologize for not mentioning this earlier, but Meenah and I. See, well. We used to… date.”

“Oh.” You sat in thought, and Meenah’s actions surely made a lot more sense now. 

You spoke again to try and fill the awkward silence. 

“Well I suppose I would feel the same way, I’m quite the jealous fellow believe it or not.” You laughed nervously afterwards, pulling your hands away from Aranea’s and laying them in your lap. You looked down at your lap and fiddled with your fingers until Aranea cleared her throat slightly. 

Your head picked up and the worry on your face must have been evident because Aranea started to laugh softly. “Oh don’t think about it that way. Our relationship was a bit shaky and when I had decided to break it off, she was completely fine with it. You have nothing to be afraid of, Jake.” 

When you glanced over at the kitchen and saw Meenah’s glare, you thought otherwise. 

Well,

This was going to be an interesting night. 

==>Be the distraught idiot. 

You are now Dirk Strider. 

You have just received a few messages from Jake English. The green text was something you don’t think you would have been able to see for a very long time. You hope to God  
that the messages are nothing bad, you want so badly to get him back, your guys’ first actual conversation in months can’t possibly be another mindless feud. God you want him back so badly. 

But fuck.

At the sight of his messages, you think you would’ve preferred the feuds. 

First and foremost…

GT: I was thinking a bit and I thought that it would be absolutely chipper if either one of us would.  
GT: Uhm.  
GT: Move on?

Moving on? 

From Jake? 

Well…

Almost immediately after your relationship with Jake had ended, you and AR calculated the probability of each possible path you could take after that point and which one would be best for your mental health. 

Of all the paths you calculated would be the best for your mental health, “moving on” most definitely had the best results. 

But in the tests, you couldn’t take into account the sleepless nights where you were writhing on your bed with only one person in mind. Your equations couldn’t factor in the emotional pain you were faced with when it ended. The formulas and calculations couldn’t possibly add in how much you loved this man. 

And fuck did you love this man. 

But still, out of all the choices---and you had a hell of a lot of choices---“moving on” was declared the best option for either of you. 

Yet no matter how many times AR warned you that this wasn’t going to be a good idea, no matter how many times the failed results came up from every other option, you did not want to move on. You love Jake. You love him so much. How can you just,

Let go? 

Despite the inner turmoil you were facing, you replied to Jake’s messages with short answers. Your fingers hesitated to type every letter and your heart clenched up at Jake’s proposal to be friends again. 

Friends? 

Was that something that the two of you could go back to? 

Jake must have already moved on from you. He couldn’t have possibly loved you as much as you love him. 

You took a deep breath to steady yourself, and replied. 

TT: I suppose we can try out friendship again. 

After that point, Jake started to bring up… a person. Someone he was interested in. Aranea? What the fuck kind of name is that?? What the shit? Who is she? What is she like? God, she better treat Jake like a fu---

You come to the realization that Jake is no longer yours. 

And no longer yours to protect and guide. 

God you are a fucking narcissist. 

Jake can do what he wants. He’s found new people, which is fucking fantastic. Great for him. 

But you still can’t help feeling like you’re going to throw up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I have no excuses. I'm lazy and awful and I don't plan out my chapters. These are really discontinuous and I apologize deeply for my stupid actions. I wrote this chapter in a day. And I just skimmed it. I need to put SOMETHING out there for you guys. I'm sorry. ;n;

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fanfic so it's expected that I don't get very many hits but that's ok! Just a few will be enough encouragement to continue this! Also, I'll probably continue it anyway, even if I don't get any reads haha. But they are very much appreciated! I welcome criticism and if there are grammatical or spelling issues, just let me know :) 
> 
> (Add on: Sooner or later I do believe I'll go back and like, edit the hell out of this because I'm rereading some of the beginning chapters and WOW. People actually tolerate this stuff)
> 
> ~~~TEMPORARY HIATUS~~~


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